Qualcomm's new audio chip puts always-on AI assistants in earbuds that work without a phone

Every performance claim here is Qualcomm's, made at its own launch event ^[1]. By the company's account, two kinds of machine learning share the chip. Adaptive noise cancellation, the feature that can let a siren or a nearby voice through while blocking everything else, runs on standard machine learning algorithms, not the transformer-based large language models behind systems like ChatGPT ^[9]. The assistant, transcription, translation and the contextual-awareness profile run on an on-device accelerator Qualcomm calls an eNPU, part of what it markets as "always-on intelligence" ^[5]. Cloud services such as ChatGPT sync when the device is connected to Wi-Fi ^[3].

The radio link is a stated compromise. To reach a phone or computer, the chip adds micropower Wi-Fi alongside Bluetooth. That link draws much less power than standard Wi-Fi, at the cost of higher latency and lower peak speeds ^[10]. For music, Qualcomm representatives said, Wi-Fi generally improves playback quality because Bluetooth compresses data in transit ^[11], and a separate subsystem could carry lossless streams ^[12]. Latency costs little when a track is buffering. It costs more in a spoken exchange, where the wearer waits for each reply.

On privacy, the company's answer is about the camera. Qualcomm representatives said lenses on future earbuds would be low resolution and would not identify specific individuals, because an AI mask automatically obfuscates them ^[8]. That describes intended behaviour. A mask has to detect a person before it can hide one, so its protection depends on how often it misses, and Live Science's account of the summit does not include a miss rate or any test of the mask ^[8]. The assurance, as reported, concerns the lenses. The system that builds the profile is audio-centric ^[7].

Battery is where Qualcomm's messages diverge. Representatives said device makers will no longer need to choose between audio quality, AI features and battery life ^[14]. Andrew Laister, a staff product manager at Qualcomm, said in a media Q&A that there is likely to be an impact on how users experience battery drain ^[15]. He contrasted the new devices with conventional earbuds, which are used sporadically for calls and music playback ^[15].