From Meta’s Muse to the Comu Action Pro, here are eight new ways to commune with AI

Where do you want AI to be? Out of sight, out of mind, baked into your phone, laptop or other smart device, or as a discrete, characterful physical object that you pop in a pocket, around your neck, on your face or in your ear? Leaving aside the fact that many people don’t want AI to be anywhere near them, it’s clear that the latter category is gaining some traction.

Welcome to the fast-expanding world of secondary AI devices, as if we didn’t have enough to worry about. These AI-enabled devices sit betwixt common categories like earbuds, voice recorders and smartphones and bill themselves as seamless agentic bridges that join the digital dots between our connected lifestyles.

These objects are designed to operate largely independently of a smartphone, offering help with recording, translating, note taking and agentic back and forth with other systems.

We’ve used and applauded the Plaud Note Pro, and struggled a little with InnAIO’s T9 AI Translator and the Buttons Clip AI earbuds, but these are discrete objects with a singular purpose – transcription and translation – that don’t have virtual tentacles reaching across all their devices.

Right now, it’s only AI adopters who have really embedded the technology into their workflow have taken these devices to heart. Fans of pocketable AIs like the newly updated Rabbit R1 need to well-versed in systems architecture, tips, tricks and general tech savviness.

Could a more consumer-focused device be on the way? The imminent arrival of OpenAI's much vaunted, LoveFrom-designed magic thingmajig certainly has the potential to upend things, whilst Meta is also attempting to get ahead of the game with the announcement of a physical pendant for its new Muse assistant.

There’s also the danger that all these devices are already redundant. After all, most of us carry a perfectly competent pocket computer with us at all times. Over the decades, smartphones have gobbled up every conceivable pocketable item and compressed their functionality into their form factor – camera, wallet, watch, alarm clock, Dictaphone, music player, TV, book, etc., etc. Do we really need another device to help us through the day?

Cheerleaders for discrete AI devices suggest they’ll help cut the cord of smartphone addiction and make us all more present and involved. Perhaps. First all they must push past the ick created by privacy-agnostic smart glasses and really prove their worth. Come with us into the world of AI smart devices, a smorgasbord of unfamiliar brand names, along with promised feats of technical wizardry and labour saving.

Comu Action Pro

First up, the Comulytic Comu Action Pro, an AI-powered recording and notetaking device that is looking to be in the same space as the Plaud Note Pro. Substantially cheaper, it comes with an added tier of operations that goes beyond the ‘simple’ transcription of meetings, calls and interviews, and digs deeper into your system to spark follow-up conversations and actions.

Both the Action Pro and its entry-level sibling, the Comu Note Pro, take the same credit-card form factor as the Plaud. Both are claimed to be fluent in 113 languages (with real time transcription and translation), with the Pro offering over 60 hours of recording time through its six-microphone array.

In practice, the Action Pro’s transcription abilities aren’t quite as polished as Plaud’s, but it’s the follow-up actions that could make all the difference. Capable of turning meetings into slideshows and annotated documents at the touch of a button, the Note Pro walks a fine line between AI executive assistant and busywork builder.

Comu Action Pro is available from Store.Comu.com and Amazon.co.uk

Muse from Meta and Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses

Where would a round-up of AI devices be without Meta? The totemic and highly divisive company offered a look at what’s coming next at this month’s Meta Connect 2026 event to bring more AI-powered Meta Glasses into the fray, along with a physical form for its new personal AI agent, Muse.

In addition to making Meta Ray-Ban Display more widely available – these are the glasses with an onboard screen viewable only to the wearer – Meta also announced the Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses. Cynics might say this is a clever pushback against the bad press afforded the camera-equipped, privacy invading Meta glasses, offering onboard access to Meta AI – via chat – and enhanced audio quality. Lighter, slimmer and with more colour options across two styles, Clubmaster and Burbank.

With all that said, Meta is still deeply committed to its regular smart glasses, launching generation 3 of the world’s bestselling AI glasses, Ray-Ban Meta, along with new styles for the regular Meta Glasses, effectively flooding the zone with stylistic options for frames, along with high profile collaborations with LISA and Kylie Jenner (her again). There was also the announcement of Meta’s new VR Glasses, due next year, but that’s more of an immersive entertainment device as much as a spatial computer.

Aside from all the eyewear, the key announcement was a physical format for the Muse AI assistant, Muse Charm. Resembling an adult Tamagotchi, replete with very un-adult animations, it’s a pocketable object that makes the act of chatting to Muse more tangible. Designed by the company’s in-house team led by former Apple man Alan Dye, Muse is US-only right now, and the Charm won’t be ready for a few more months, when you’ll also be able to use it via Meta Glasses.

Like many of the AI-enabled objects featured here, there’s a deceptive and tonally awkward disconnect between the power and scope of Muse and the kawaii-adjacent look and feel of the Charm. The animations look and feel very Pixar and Dreamworks adjacent, the buttery smooth CGI that has been utterly co-opted and hollowed out by generative AI.

Aesthetics aside, will we learn to love chatting openly with our new pocket friends? Meta seems happy to cop all the flack and push through ‘innovation’ with nary a thought about secondary consequences. You might have forgotten about the Metaverse, but Zuckerberg and co are still spending big to make AI happen and more.

Ray-Ban Meta Audio glasses, coming soon, £319, Meta.com
Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3), from £409, Meta.com
AI.Meta.com/Muse

Rabbit R1 with OS3

The new OS3 from Rabbit is an ‘agentic operating system’, one that’s operating through prompts, either via typing, text messages or talking into the R1 handheld device. This pivot to a standalone OS could give the maligned but cultish R1 a second life.

Launched perhaps ahead of time, with too much focus on form rather than function, the R1 was originally dismissed as a halfway house without much purpose. With OS3, the R1 becomes a controller for the web workspace, a remote controller through which you can direct, stop, start and create ‘skills’.

On its own, the R1 (shaped by Teenage Engineering, no less) still functions as an AI voice recorder and notetaker, with an onboard camera, microphone and scroll wheel interface. Aimed at tech-savvy, vibe-coding developers who like the retro aesthetic and community-minded approach, the R1 is the original pocket companion for the AI curious.

Rabbit R1, $199, Rabbit.Tech, @rabbit

Violoop

Sitting somewhere between the Charm and the R1 is the forthcoming Violoop, currently undergoing a successful Kickstarter campaign. Resembling a levelled-up alarm clock, Violoop is a desktop AI companion that connects directly to your PC and introduces a seamless agentic workflow. In practice, that means having a context-aware digital assistant that prepares responses and information without waiting for a conventional prompt.

The makers describe it as a ‘second AI user’, one that transform an older computer into a smarter device without sharing data beyond the Violoop itself. However, like so many AI assistants, the predicted workflows – organising calendar invites, summarising meetings and executing actions – are very business orientated, targeted at a format and corporate structure that already feels out of date.

It’s hard to determine whether any take-up in such agentic AIs will hasten the demise of the culture of spreadsheets, meetings, KPIs and action points or simply cement it into place for generations to come.

Violoop.ai, Kickstarter.com

Elehear Beyond 2 Pro

The Beyond 2 Pro earbuds from Elehear offer a much more succinct and straightforward use of AI power. These are what used to be called hearing aids, rebranded and massively enhanced for the AI generation. Using Elehear’s own sound-processing algorithm, the Beyond Pro 2 are designed to cut through background noise and pick-out and amplify conversations.

Working hand in hand with a team of licensed audiologists, Elehear’s technology is something many high-end earbuds will offer in the future – the ability to isolate certain sounds and tune out the background noise. The entire system is designed to be worn discretely behind the ear and also offers audio playback and realtime translation.

Elehear Beyond 2 Pro, $799, Elehear.com

Viaim Rise

Another entry in the real-time AI translation genre, the new Rise earbuds from Viaim promise 78 language fluency in addition to being able to capture calls and conversations. The latter don’t just sit as recordings, but they can be turned into action points via the usual highfalutin promises attached to such devices. In the Rise’s case, this means direct access to key players like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.

There’s no denying the quality of the audio hardware (3D spatial audio, three microphones for voice and environmental capture, etc.), but your mileage is yet again predicated on existing workflows and whether or not you’re happy and willing to let a distant tech behemoth have access to your day-to-day thoughts, calendar and career aspirations.

Viaim Rise earbuds, available via Indiegogo.com, Viaim.ai

Relay Q

Another AI-native hardware project, this time in the form of a compact, sleek microphone-style device that is positioning itself as the ‘future of input’. Voice control is second nature to many of us, particularly in cars and when using the first wave of smart devices like Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant. All of these services are constantly evolving, but Relay’s new Q device is an ‘active input object’, not a disembodied ear hovering in the background waiting for a wake word.

Relay Q is designed to be ‘something you intentionally reach for at the moment a thought happens, much like reaching for a mouse or beginning to type,’ according to industrial designer Aaron Yan, founding Design Partner at Relay and former Nothing designer.

Intention and context are key, just like the Dictaphone of old, with a microphone array designed to capture whispers as well as meetings, with a detachable tip that can double up as a lapel mic. The software back-up is driven by Gemini and ultimately a subscription will be required to make the most of all its functions.

Relay Q, available in January 2027, Relay.tech, @Relay.Tech.HQ

Boya Notra Neo

An AI notetaker without the fuss, the new Boya Notra Neo follows the path of Plaud and Comu, cramming high-quality 360-degree microphones into a discrete and compact package. Capable of clipping magnetically to the back of your phone, the Notra Neo can record phone calls and via Bluetooth as well as over its ambient microphones and follows the familiar playbook of building up an archive of searchable transcripts, translation and queries.

Less serious-looking than its peers, it’s pitched at students and those who need everyday record-keeping, with the added caveat of being a prominent, neat device that can sit on a table and record without being unduly sneaky. There’s 64GB on onboard storage, four colours (Black, Silver, Cosmic Orange, and Purple) and the inevitable subscription scheme for power users.

Boya Notra Neo, £79.09, Store.Boyamic.com