If you’ve followed Razer recently, you’ll know the company has been placing a strong emphasis on AI. Staying true to its word, the company has unveiled several AI-based concept devices during CES. These products include AI companions, an AI workstation, and the subject of this article, AI-powered headphones.
At the time of writing, the company calls the headphones Project Motoko and positions them as an alternative to AI glasses. On the surface, it may look like your everyday headset but what sets it apart is that it has two front-facing cameras, one on each earcup.
Based on the official trailer, the Snapdragon-powered headphones operate like any other AI glasses, in that they can see the environment and provide relevant audio feedback. The trailer also shows the headphones reading and summarising documents, providing instructions, enabling first-person POV streams (with potential on-screen chat), setting up workout routines, and even offering information about people (which is creepy, to say the least).
In the official press release, Razer states that Project Motoko features “dual far-field and near-field microphones” so it can more easily capture sound and voice commands. The company also noted that the device offers “universal compatibility across leading AI platforms” and claims that it will make users more productive at work, in gaming, and in everyday life. Additionally, it also supports robotics training and AI model development.
Unfortunately, the company did not provide any additional details about Project Motoko’s performance, such as driver specs and connectivity features. In a similar vein, we still don’t know when Razer will release the headphones to the market and how much they will cost. The same holds true for the brand’s other AI products.
First is Project AVA, an AI desk companion featuring a 5.5-inch animated avatar that provides live advice, tips, and commentary. Owners can choose from AVA (a floating Razer logo), an anime girl named Kira, a Brimstone lookalike called Zane, esports player Faker, or former J-pop idol Saori Akari as their avatar of choice.
Moving on, we have the Razer Forge AI Dev Workstation, which, as the name suggests, is an AI-powered workstation designed to accelerate “large-scale [AI] model training”. There’s also the Razer AIKit, an open-source platform which is designed to streamline the AI development lifecycle.
(Source: Razer [press release], [YouTube])
