It can be hard to know when one is being used. Some devices flash or light up when they\u2019re recording; others glow when they\u2019re switched off. Most automatically generate AI transcripts and audio recordings of everything with which their owner interacts.<\/p>\n
Why would anyone voluntarily wear these roving surveillance devices? It\u2019s not necessarily to catch people saying things they\u2019ll regret. Enthusiasts report that the recorders help them stay \u201cpresent\u201d in meetings, outsource busywork, and act as a perpetually available collaborator.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But many who work in offices where the devices are becoming the norm report that they have begun to self-censor, worried about every offhand comment being etched into an AI-generated transcript. Meanwhile, lawyers warn that it\u2019s only a matter of time before these nonconsensual records and audio files become liabilities in court.<\/p>\n
The always-listening crowd<\/p>\n
For many in the tech industry, AI recording tools have become a way of life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At a Dolores Park picnic this summer, a group of founders chatted over snacks and cans of sparkling water. A closer inspection revealed glowing LED lights from AI note-taking devices \u2014 a red burst from a silver clip at someone\u2019s collar, a blue ray from a triangular pendant, and a white blip from yet another neckpiece.<\/p>\n
This is the new normal, said Anith Patel, founder of the wearable AI note-taker Buddi<\/a>, whose own collar accessory flashed blue. \u201cAt a picnic, you meet 10-plus people, so it’s better to get it documented so you remember,\u201d Patel said. Permission to record is \u201cjust assumed,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Nicholas Lopez said AI recording tools have given him a \u201csecond brain\u201d for building his AI \u201csuperconsultant\u201d out of tech incubator Founders Garage<\/a>. His $159 Plaud pin helps detail conversation topics, highlights, and takeaways.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c[It\u2019s] like having a modern-day Rockefeller Rolodex that keeps track of my network, my meetings, my entire life,\u201d he said, referencing the late banker David Rockefeller\u2019s custom-designed 5-foot-high filing system<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Outside of work, Lopez has started taking his Plaud to house parties as a kind of social experiment that allows him to relive nights out. \u201cPeople come over and say crazy things into it,\u201d Lopez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n AI wearables have become so ubiquitous that people rarely comment, said Jeff Wilson, a VC and cofounder of No Cap,<\/a> a Y Combinator\u2013backed startup building an AI-powered VC investing tool.<\/p>\n During a coffee meeting, a Limitless pendant hung from Wilson\u2019s chest; his Meta Ray-Bans were in their case. Beside him, Pat Santiago, founder of Accelr8, a coliving startup, had a Buddi pinned to his collar that he uses to gather intel at networking parties and pitch nights. No Cap processes the data he captures with his collar recorder to surface early-stage investments, Santiago explained. \u201cThe AI can see patterns that we can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n When a reporter from The Standard added an old-fashioned audio recorder to the table, there were four devices recording the conversation. \u201cI don\u2019t think people care that much anymore,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n But some users acknowledge that Silicon Valley\u2019s newfound recording culture has them on edge. Even a confidential chat in the back of a coffee shop may not be safe.<\/p>\n \u201cI know a VC who records all in-person meetings on their watch, without telling the other meeting participants,\u201d Brenner said. “It’s an invasion of privacy and I seriously disapprove of it.”<\/p>\n For online meetings, Granola has become the AI-powered note-taking app of choice<\/a> for the investor class. Instead of joining meetings publicly as a bot, like Otter.AI<\/a> does, Granola runs locally on the user\u2019s device. The app syncs directly with your calendar and begins transcribing when you have a meeting. Granola wasn\u2019t intended to be a \u201cstealth\u201d app \u2014 its website recommends always asking for consent \u2014 but many in the tech world don\u2019t bother.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSome investors assume everyone is using one, so why be awkward and bring it up?\u201d Brenner said, who always makes it a point to ask for permission.<\/p>\n San Francisco-based human experience researcher Harvin Park has seen firsthand how AI recording changes behavior. When you know the person will refer back to their notes, \u201cit’s fundamentally a different conversation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey often start speaking in prompts,\u201d he said. \u201cThey talk in a way that has the AI remembering key details.\u201d For example, \u201cOne of the important things about me is X,\u201d or \u201cYou should remember Y.\u201d<\/p>\n Just as smartphones, Slack, and microwavable salmon have forced the creation of new office policies, so too are AI recorders changing workplace etiquette. Jarad Johnson, CEO of Mostly Serious<\/a>, a Missouri firm that builds websites and trains businesses to use AI, said around a quarter of his clients are drafting or have implemented AI recording policies.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a big shift,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some of his clients have leaned in, buying AI wearables for entire teams, particularly those in sales. One opted for always-on recording (Missouri is a one-party consent state, meaning most recorded conversations are legal) and sends transcripts to every participant. Another company rewrote its policy to tell employees to assume that AI is recording everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n Is this even legal?\u00a0<\/p>\n The rules around recording permission differ by state. California\u2019s wiretapping law requires everyone in a confidential conversation to give explicit consent before being recorded in situations where there\u2019s a \u201creasonable expectation of privacy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou could potentially be subject to criminal penalties if you record a conversation and all parties haven\u2019t consented,\u201d said Catherine Crump, a technology law expert at UC Berkeley.\u00a0<\/p>\n Those building AI recording devices hope there\u2019s a gray area.\u00a0Patel said his Buddi device transcribes but does not record audio for that exact reason.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Crump is unsure whether that level of hair-splitting would hold up in court, since using a transcribing tool is not so different from hiring someone to secretly listen in and take copious notes. Another open legal question is whether the tech world\u2019s \u201creasonable expectations of privacy\u201d have changed.<\/p>\n \u201cIf these bozos are wearing really obvious devices that clearly signal they are recording, and you speak to them, that could constitute consent, even in a private place,\u201d said Chris Hoofnagle<\/a>, faculty director of the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n In cases where AI-recorded transcripts are found, subsequent lawsuits will determine whether the records themselves violate the law. Then, \u201cthe burden is on the person who did the recording to prove that the other side consented,\u201d Crump said.\u00a0<\/p>\n For now, the responsibility for getting appropriate consent has largely fallen on users, with companies distancing themselves from legal liability. An OpenAI spokesperson told The Standard that users must get consent and obey local laws; the company encourages this by placing a grayed-out reminder \u2014 \u201cask before recording others\u201d \u2014 beneath its red \u201crecord\u201d button.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Granola cofounder Sam Stephensen said during an interview \u2014 which he kicked off by asking permission to use Granola to take notes \u2014 that an experimental feature enables users to send an automated message letting others know they\u2019re using note-taking technology.<\/p>\n While many have resigned themselves to the slow erosion of personal privacy, Confident Security<\/a> CEO Jonathan Mortensen is fighting back. \u201cI\u2019ve had so many calls where I\u2019ve said, like, \u2018Please don\u2019t record me,\u2019 and no one knows how to turn off the recording or kick out the note-takers,\u201d Mortensen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/-S3840x3840-FPNG.png\"\/)
Source: Illustration by Bratislav Milenkovic<\/p>\n![\"RayBan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/-S3840x2580-FPNG.png\"\/)
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg uneviled the company’s collaboration with Ray-Ban in 2023. | Source: Godofredo A. V\u00c3\u00a1squez\/AP Photo<\/p>\n