I always get a little paranoid and freaked out when wearing any sort of noise canceling headphones or earbuds. Maybe a car is about to hit me due to its driver being distracted, or maybe I'm about to get mugged, or there's a cyclist approaching from behind. This would be a set of earbuds or headphones with a camera watching from the back, with an onboard AI assistant that looks for approaching hazards and warns you in time to either avoid them or plan a response. Sort of a digital watchdog for pedestrians and/or cyclists.-- 21 Quest, Mar 24 2024 This level of artificial intelligence doesn't exist.-- Voice, Mar 24 2024 It wouldn't take a magic amount of AI processing to say "cyclist approaching on left" to allow you to step to the side, or "masked pedestrian approaching from behind". You then look over your shoulder and make your own judgement call about their intent. If you have a defensive weapon, you can get a hand on it and prepare to ward off a potential attacker, or start running. Shift your purse to the other side and grip it more securely to prevent it being snatched. "Vehicle on collision trajectory" type warning already exists in vehicles like I referenced in the description line. Adaptive cruise control does that.-- 21 Quest, Mar 24 2024 Couple things here: The AI doesn't need to KNOW the difference to suggest maybe you should take a look in case, but perhaps it could for instance be programmed to use facial recognition and scan publicly available sex offender registries, inmate rosters etc to sound a more urgent alert if a known criminal is approaching you. There are all sorts of ways that AI could help fine tune the results to help you decide best how to respond to the information that something is approaching. It is a set of ear buds, so yes, the assumption is you would have it paired with a phone, and depending on the model that processing could happen on-device or through the cloud, but I don't see how that matters. Obviously, it would probably need internet access to scan criminal registries but fuck man, you are REALLY trying hard to overthink this.-- 21 Quest, Mar 25 2024 // you are REALLY trying hard to overthink this //
Wait - is that a *bad* thing?
(I bunned, btw).-- pertinax, Mar 25 2024 My first thought on this was that it was a silly idea, as earbuds with cameras would just show a really detailed image of the inside of your ear. I then read the idea text and it now seems less silly and verging on plausible, although I disapprove of anyone cycling or running while wearing earbuds/earphones. If you want to listen to music while being somewhat aware of the world around you, get some bone-conduction headphones-- hippo, Mar 25 2024 //There are all sorts of ways that AI could help fine tune the results to help you decide best how to respond to the information that something is approaching// Go on them, tell me. The algo uses facial recognition and there is someone who was convicted for larceny about to cross the street in front of you. What does AI do that a simple table of offense alert/do not alert wouldn't do?-- Voice, Mar 25 2024 "DUCK!"-- minoradjustments, Mar 27 2024 "Where?"-- hippo, Mar 27 2024 Couldn't your audio just cease and ambient sounds no longer cancelled whenever your program feels that there is a threat? Just give you your ears back. Pick your optimal sensitivity settings for given environmental factors and there'd be a lot fewer stupid deaths.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Mar 28 2024 In a way, this idea is the opposite of the Joo Janta Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses (from HHGTTG) which sought to shield the wearer from danger, whereas these aim to alert the wearer to danger-- hippo, Mar 28 2024 random, halfbakery