Meta Platforms Inc. today announced that it has acquired Limitless Inc., a startup with an artificial intelligence wearable for recording conversations.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Limitless has raised $33 million in funding from First Round Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA and OpenAI Group PBC Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman. Meta competes with OpenAI in the large language model market.

Denver-based Limitless has developed a compact wearable that resembles a tiny pair of headphones. The device, which measures 1.25 inches wide, can be clipped onto a shirt with a magnetic clasp or worn as a pendant. It records the user’s conversations, transcribes them and uses AI to extract key details.

Limitless captures audio with an array of tiny microphones that implements a technology called beamforming. Beamforming allows microphones to only record audio that is coming from a specific direction. The technology tunes out background noise and increases the quality of the audio that isn’t filtered.

The microphones and their supporting components, which include a battery that must only be charged every 100 hours, are housed in a water-proof case. Charging is carried out with USB-C cable.

Limitless sold the device for $99 prior to the acquisition. The company offered subscription plans that allowed users to increase the amount of audio the device can process per month. It also had a desktop app, Rewind, that offered AI-powered search features for browsing files on the user’s computer.

The company will sunset Rewind in the wake of its acquisition by Meta. Limitless will also stop taking orders for its namesake wearable, but plans to continue supporting existing devices until at least next December. It will give those devices’ users free access to its most expensive subscription plan, which places no rate limits on AI transcripts.

Meta might be planning to relaunch Limitless’ device as an accessory for its growing lineup of AI smart glasses. The Facebook parent’s newest eyewear product, the Meta Ray-Bans Displays, already ships with a wearable accessory. The Neural Band is a wristband that enables users to control the glasses with hand gestures.

Now that it has a presence in the eyewear and smart pendant categories, Meta’s next step might be to build or buy a smart ring. Current smart rings primarily focus on fitness tracking use cases. They include sensors that measure the wearer’s heart rate and collect exercise data.

The Limitless acquisition comes on the heels of reports that Meta is considering directing more resources to its wearables unit. The budget increase is expected to come as part of broader changes to the company’s Reality Labs group, which leads its eyewear and metaverse efforts. Meta will reportedly lay off up to 30% of the employees who work on metaverse projects.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons