New Device Aims to Block AI Wearable Recordings

A tech startup has announced development of a device that aims to block recordings from AI-enabled wearables. The company, Deveillance, introduced Spectre I in March as a hockey-puck-shaped unit that emits signals to interfere with nearby microphones.

Deveillance founder Aida Baradari said she created the company after observing increased use of AI recorders that function as notetakers or assistants. The devices remain limited in adoption but are expected to become more common as major technology firms develop similar products.

Earlier jammers relied on loud white noise or ultrasonic frequencies to mask speech. Newer AI systems use algorithms trained on large datasets to isolate and recover spoken words even when background noise is present. Computer scientist DeLiang Wang at Ohio State University has worked on similar speech-recovery techniques for hearing-aid applications.

Microsoft has run an annual Deep Noise Suppression Challenge since 2020 to advance the same capabilities.

Researchers have explored other methods, including devices that generate ultrasonic anti-speech matched to a speaker's voice. One such system, MicFrozen, was developed by a team led by Ming Gao and described in a 2023 paper. Finn Brunton at UC Davis and Woodrow Hartzog at Boston University have discussed strategies that involve supplying devices with misleading data instead of attempting to block signals outright.

Baradari stated that Spectre I will also attempt to detect nearby microphones, though details of its signal design remain undisclosed. The company acknowledges that more advanced AI models could eventually bypass audio recording by reading lips from video.

The article notes that development of surveillance tools and countermeasures has historically followed a pattern of successive technical improvements on both sides.