he Apple Watch has officially become an AI wearable.

The iPhone maker is making a big move in ambient computing and ambient intelligence with a pair of new features on the Apple Watch that passively listen in the background and then try to provide you with information you might have missed or need to take action on.

Here's what to know about the two Audio Intelligence features:

• Live Rewind: This feature is a real-life rewind button. It is always listening, and when you double-press the digital crown on Apple Watch, it shows a transcript of the last 15 seconds of the conversation. This transcript can then be saved and revisited later in the Siri app. Also notable is that, when activated, it plays an audible chime and displays a full-screen animation of a microphone, so people know the feature is active and that their audio may be transcribed.
• Siri Recap: This feature is Apple's answer to Granola, providing users with high-level summaries from conversations recorded on the watch when the feature is activated. There are no transcriptions, attributions, or timestamps, a move meant to protect user privacy. Rather, you can find your summaries in the Siri app as a refresher on your day. If you'd rather it be more session-based, you can turn it on and off from the watch's Control Center.

"Just as Visual Intelligence makes sense of what you see, Audio Intelligence makes sense of what you hear. It harnesses the power of Apple Intelligence right on your wrist in a private and secure way," said Ron Huang, Apple's VP of sensing and connectivity, during the keynote.

With both Live Rewind and Siri Recap, Apple promises that it does not record or save audio. It says the audio is captured in the Secure Exclave on the Apple Watch's new S11 chip, which is inaccessible to the operating system, apps, the user, or Apple, and deletes the audio immediately after processing.

While we trust that Apple is not snooping on the audio, there's still a big question about how comfortable we are with the device listening in the background. And what about two-party consent states such as California? While this isn't recording audio and that will make it legally compliant—Apple says it will always comply with the local legal requirements—there's still the potential that you could be using technology to note a conversation with a person without their consent, where the two of you may have a different understanding about whether something being said is private or confidential. Again, Apple has also made it clear that the Audio Intelligence features can be turned off and disabled.

"Getting AI right across today’s products is therefore about far more than this upgrade cycle. It lays the foundation for a much broader roadmap spanning wearables, the home and entirely new form factors," said Paolo Pescatore, analyst at PP Foresight. "That lets Apple test the waters, understand how people actually use these features, and gather valuable feedback before moving into more novel devices such as Apple Glasses."

Our Deeper View

Devices that are constantly listening, watching, and absorbing context for AI to provide insights, reminders, and notes to their owners are coming in a big wave over the next 12-18 months. Lots of startups have already launched their own versions of these kinds of devices. But other than Meta Ray-Bans smart glasses, big tech companies have largely been hesitant to join the fray. Many of them still remember the backlash that Google Glass faced a decade ago. So it's a surprise to see Apple pushing the boundaries on this while society is still figuring out what the norms and expectations will be. Apple is straddling a fine line between the perception of convenience and surveillance. Since the feature isn't launching for another month—and even then it will still be in beta—clearly Apple is listening to the audience to gauge the reaction of users and recalibrate as needed.