Juli Clover, reporting for MacRumors:

Apple is working on camera-equipped AirPods that appear to be nearly ready to launch, based on a video MacRumors found in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate.

In a short demo, a man holds a book up so the camera in the AirPods can see the title. “With Visual Intelligence, your world becomes savable. See something you like? Just ask me to save it for later,” says the voiceover text.

I have been on the record as saying I have no interest in this product. I love my AirPods Pro 3 and have them in my ears almost all the time; I find the rumors about this product also carrying the AirPods Pro name concerning. It will be unacceptable to me if I have to purchase these AirPods just to get the best sound quality and active noise cancellation performance. My hopeful guess is that the standard AirPods Pro 3 will remain for sale at $250, whereas these new ones will be marketed as “AirPods Pro 3 with Visual Intelligence” for, say, $350. (I’m hoping the two products are otherwise identical.) There are two main reasons why I don’t want camera-equipped AirPods: practicality and privacy.

First, practicality. From the leaked video — which is remarkable by itself; this is one of the most embarrassing Apple leaks in a while — the AirPods’ stems are noticeably thicker. I wear mine to sleep every night, and even AirPods Pro 3 protrude too far outward to be completely comfortable. AirPods should always be light and as minimal as possible. I also just don’t find a practical reason for putting cameras in AirPods to begin with. Perhaps this is just me, but I have never picked up a book and wanted to save it. I have never held some nuts in my hand and asked myself how much protein is in them. I don’t go up to random people’s dogs and ask Visual Intelligence what breed they are. I’m yet to hear a single compelling use case for Visual Intelligence.

Second, privacy. Society is undergoing a mass revolution against surveillance. Flock license plate cameras, Meta Ray-Ban sunglasses, and artificial intelligence data scraping are hugely unpopular throughout the United States. I single out the United States because Americans are not averse to relinquishing their privacy for useful software — there has been no major push for data privacy regulation within the United States on a federal level, and Americans largely accept targeted advertising. But AI-enabled surveillance is widely unpopular politically and socially because Americans don’t see its utility, a position I largely agree with. There’s not much compelling about AI-enabled cameras everywhere. Camera-equipped AirPods will be symbolic of a Big Tech-powered surveillance state.

As a commentator, I’m intrigued to see how Apple spins this. But as a citizen and user of Apple products, I’m just not excited for yet another gadget with AI cameras.