One of the hottest rumours circulating about Apple’s fall hardware event is that the company will update its hugely popular AirPods headphones with a version including cameras. Designed to work hand-in-hand with the tech giant’s Apple Intelligence AI system, these wearable devices will have a host of uses – a leaked video that confirmed the devices’ existence showed they could scan a book you’re interested in reading so you can access the text later on, for example.
New information suggests that Apple may not be launching these devices until next year. And if this proves true, it may be a wise plan. Public sentiment around wearable camera devices like these rumoured AirPods is polarised, with many online commentators reviling what they see as serious privacy threats. The thing is, it seems Apple is savvy to these risks, and the cameras won’t work in the way that critics are worried they will.
When I posted my Inc article about the unreleased devices to LinkedIn, responses to the story showed just how concerned people are. One commenter noted that camera AirPods could be a “legal nightmare waiting to happen inside companies.” If the cams “observe a list of clients and beam that picture up to Apple”, then workers may have violated NDAs or other sharing clauses in contracts. Another imagined the devices would spawn “lawsuits a plenty as soon as employees wear them into the bathroom” because their employers may be liable. More critically, one person suggested wearers are simply “going to be part of the surveillance state.”
Commenters on Reddit were equally dubious. One user highlighted a particularly tricky complication that could arise, with third parties not able to tell if someone wearing AirPods has camera-equipped versions or not – forcing enterprises to issue a blanket ban: “I hate this. Gyms obviously ban phones in locker rooms, but now I’ll have to take off my AirPods to make sure people feel comfortable.”
Another user noted that they could be a “dope disability aid,” but other than that, “I don’t see the point,” which echoed other users’ comments. Many commenters drew parallels to Meta’s Ray Ban wearables, which have earned the label “pervert smart glasses” after a handful of users recorded people without their consent – including comedian Diane Morgan, better known as Philomena Cunk.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg tech reporter Mark Gurman reported that sources familiar with Apple’s plans had told him that camera AirPods would not be launching alongside the new iPhone 18 this year after all. But the delay is not related to privacy complications – it’s allegedly been triggered by supply-chain constraints and software issues.
Gurman also suggested that the AirPods cameras won’t work at all in the way that people think.
The cameras will be relatively low resolution (fitting the size and battery limitations of AirPods), and they won’t capture photos or videos – their chief purpose is to act as a source of visual info for Apple Intelligence. This aligns very much with Apple’s long-held position on user privacy: The company has been so hesitant to embrace AI because of its potential risks that it’s even been accused of falling far behind its big tech competitors.
Apple boosters would suspect that if the tech giant is releasing camera-toting AirPods, of course they won’t be able to be used to invade people’s privacy in the way that, say, Meta’s glasses can. We could go one step further and speculate that Apple’s software will nearly always process images from AirPods on a user’s phone in a secure and anonymised way and rarely send them off to a remote system for processing. And if they can access remote AI, it will likely be implemented so that neither Apple nor anyone else will be able to see the images captured by the cameras.
The furore around the rumoured AirPods does tell us one thing, however. No matter how smart and privacy-preserving Apple’s next-gen AirPods really are, many companies probably don’t have up-to-date guidelines for their staff about which wearable tech devices are approved and under what circumstances workplace use is acceptable.
Some companies may embrace camera AirPods, of course, but others will have to ban them for legal or compliance issues. It’s probably time for you to have a chat with your staff about the risks and benefits of wearables, as well as reminding them that even innocuous smart devices may be sending information off to third-party AI firms – potentially leaking your sensitive IP. – Inc./Tribune News Service
