Kudos to Plaud for one thing: In a year otherwise marked by spectacular failures and so much AI vaporware, the company has created an AI device that does exactly what it says on the tin, and does it pretty well. The device is called NotePin, and it's a $169 pill-shaped voice recorder that can transcribe your audio, summarize it, and extract key information from it. This is something current AI systems actually do well! There's good, mature technology here every step of the way, from tiny microphones to speech-to-text transcription to natural language processing and AI summarization. The NotePin does this well.
But the reason the NotePin works is also the reason I wouldn't recommend buying one. AI voice recording is great and convenient, and it's becoming commoditized at an absolutely breathtaking pace. With iOS 18 or macOS Sequoia, you get transcriptions and summaries built into the Voice Memos app. Google's Pixel Recorder app is great, and built into both the Pixel phones and Pixel Watch. You can get similar functionality in many apps, too. Need a dedicated voice recorder?
This, of course, is the eternal question about AI assistants in general. Are they a feature of your existing devices or a gadget category of their own? Plaud's argument for dedicated hardware is about the same as every other AI startup's: ease of use is everything. The NotePin's accessories are core to its appeal: There's a braided lanyard that lets you wear it around your neck, a wristband that lets you wear it on your arm, Fitbit-style, and a clip that lets you attach it almost anywhere else.
Plaud’s argument for dedicated hardware is roughly the same as that of all other AI startups: Ease of use is everything
During my testing period, I wore the NotePin around my neck most of the time and used it to take notes while driving, think of long thoughts while walking the dog, and summarize calls and conversations. It's definitely handy to be able to just reach down and press the NotePin until it vibrates to indicate it's recording, and then babble into nothingness while my necklace listens obediently. One time when I was particularly enjoying a podcast, I just played it in its entirety on the speaker so the NotePin could transcribe and summarize it. The NotePin is more accessible than having my phone in my pocket, and it's definitely easier than having my wrist held to my mouth for minutes at a time while screaming into my watch. The form factor is definitely important.
The NotePin's microphone is perfectly fine: the audio it records never sounds great, but in every realistic scenario I tried, it was good enough for a solid transcription. Plaud estimates the device's battery lasts for about 18 hours of recording time, or 30 days of standby time, and in my testing, I recorded for about four hours over about 10 days, and the battery just died. The NotePin charges on a tiny pad that I'm sure I'll lose soon, and I wish it was just a simple USB-C plug. But look: the thing works. It does what it says on the tin.
The main problem with the NotePin, and frankly any other AI gadget, is that it's not useful enough on the other hand. Once you've made some recordings with the NotePin, you import them into the Plaud app, which is relatively quick and easy. But then you have to go into each recording and manually tell the app to transcribe it, choose a “template” you want to use for the summary, and then come back a few minutes later to see what it came up with. (You get 300 minutes of transcriptions and basic templates per month for free, or 1,200+ templates and features for $80 per year.) That's too much work. And how much effort am I really saving by having to pull out my phone—twice!—?
The transcriptions are good and the summaries helpful, and so far I haven't made any major mistakes or hallucinations. But when they're done, they just live in reverse chronological order in the Plaud app. The app correctly identified that one of my recordings was a reminder to buy retinol; it didn't remind me of anything. It just created the title “Reminder to buy retinol.” When I walked through my kitchen and spoke a shopping list into the NotePin, the app correctly transcribed that list for me, but only titled the note “Shopping list of various foods and household items.”
It's not really NotePin's fault that it can't do more than convert my nonsensical ramblings into text files. It's not Plaud's fault, either. What I really want – and what really should happen – is for it to take that shopping list and add it to the shopping list I already have on my phone. It should add that reminder to my to-do list. At the very least, the app should be able to combine my shopping list note with mine. other Shopping list note, but it can't. Ultimately, no matter what you record, chances are that you want Do to do something with it afterwards, and Plaud simply can't do most of those things. At some point, the Plaud app started to feel like just another inbox to check.
For all these reasons, your phone or smartwatch could be insurmountable opponents in the war of the AI assistants. They may be a little less convenient—you have to pull them out of your pocket rather than simply grab them to your chest—but they're much more connected to the rest of your digital life. It just doesn't make sense to build your entire world around a transcription app.
It's possible that these things will become more open over time. Apple and Google could open up APIs that allow AI assistants to interact with the other apps on your phone, or, theoretically, the assistants could become smart enough to simply interact with the apps on your behalf. Many developers are working on both options. But as it stands now, the Plauds and Humanes and Rabbits of this world just can't do enough. AI voice recorders are a great idea – but they're not a new kind of device.