News Summary

Two former Harvard students, AnhPhu Nguyen and Caine Ardayfio, have founded a startup to develop ‘always-on’ AI-powered smart glasses named Halo X. These glasses are designed to listen to, record, and transcribe conversations while displaying relevant information in real-time to the wearer. The startup has raised $1 million in funding led by Pillar VC, with support from Soma Capital, Village Global, and Morningside Venture. The glasses will be available for pre-order at $249. The technology raises privacy concerns as the glasses do not have an external indicator to signal recording, unlike Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses. Privacy advocates warn about the normalization of such devices, emphasizing the importance of consent and data security. Halo relies on Soniox for transcription and aims for SOC 2 compliance, though details on data encryption remain vague. The glasses currently lack a camera but may include one in future models. The founders’ previous project, I-XRAY, highlighted privacy risks by demonstrating facial recognition capabilities on smart glasses.