Amazon is reportedly making a wearable device meant to read your emotions
Amazon is at the forefront of selling speakers that listen to people's conversations. However, this rumored development reaches a whole new level of creepy.
Bloomberg reported on Thursday that the e-commerce giant is developing a device to be worn on the wrist that would recognize its users emotional state through their voice commands. The report is based on internal documents Bloomberg acquired as well as Amazon patent filings from recent years that line up with the device's supposed feature set.
Internally called Dylan, the wearable will supposedly work with a smartphone app to analyze your voice and figure out how you're feeling. From there, it could do all sorts of things, such as recommend a specific meal or product. Bloomberg's report also suggested the device could help wearers get better at interacting with others, but it's unclear how exactly that would work.
To be clear, this thing may never see the light of day. Companies develop and scrap ideas without publicly revealing them all the time. When contacted by Mashable, Amazon declined to comment.
Still, this fits into Amazon's larger plan to be a part of customers' lives as much as possible. The former online bookstore now has a line of voice-activated speakers with their own privacy controversies, as well as a growing brick-and-mortar retail operation. It's even rumored to be working on an AirPods competitor.
Emotional analysis might seem a little over-the-top for Amazon, but the company has been active when it comes facial recognition and body scanning tech.
If it does get a public release, it will be fascinating to see how it's received by consumers. Google Glass had to be converted into an enterprise product partially because people found it creepy. Have things changed enough since 2015 for an emotion-reading wearable to succeed?
Regardless, we might be doomed if we need a watch to tell us how to talk to other people.
Topics Amazon
Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. Alex can be found on Bluesky at yelix.bsky.social.
