Open-source collaboration brings on-device voice and vision processing to consumer wearables, prioritizing privacy and latency
Brilliant Labs, Neuphonic, and TheStage AI today announced a strategic partnership to enable frontier AI in wearable technology without the latency and privacy compromises of cloud computing. The collaboration moves AI inference directly into consumer hardware, protecting sensitive point-of-view data while enhancing performance through faster response times. Brilliant Labs’ upcoming Halo glasses will be the first devices to benefit from this architecture, featuring on-device vision inference and Neuphonic’s conversational AI models running on an inference engine built by TheStage AI.
Current AI inference for audio and image analysis relies on models hosted in the cloud, creating unnecessary latency and risking user data exposure. This partnership challenges the foundation of cloud-dependent offerings from major technology platforms by placing user privacy and latency at the core of the wearable experience. Recent investigations have raised questions about whether some platforms deliver on privacy promises, concerns that grow more acute as AI systems expand beyond text into always-on microphones and cameras. The partnership offers an alternative through open-source technology designed for transparency and independent scrutiny.
Key Insights at a Glance
- On-Device Processing: Voice, vision, and sensor data are processed locally on the user’s device, with no raw point-of-view data ever leaving the phone or glasses.
- Ultra-Low-Latency Voice: Neuphonic’s conversational AI models run locally, enabling human-like responsiveness without cloud round-trip delays.
- Optimized Edge Inference: TheStage AI’s ANNA technology optimizes AI models to run efficiently on smartphones paired with glasses, managing peak memory, latency, and power consumption.
- Privacy-First Architecture: Encrypted embeddings replace raw data transmission, ensuring sensitive visual and conversational information remains under user control.
Privacy-First Design Challenges Cloud-Dependent Giants
The partnership represents a fundamental shift in wearable architecture philosophy. “We believe in a privacy-first future for personal computing. AI glasses are soon going to be everywhere around us: always-on cameras and microphones capturing our lives. That’s either exciting or terrifying, depending on where that data lives and who is monetizing it,” said Bobak Tavangar, CEO of Brilliant Labs and former Apple program lead. “I don’t want my children growing up in a world where that data is sold to the highest bidder. This partnership shows there’s a better way. And by embracing open source, we want people to understand how these systems work, build upon them, and ultimately foster trust. That’s the standard we think the industry should be held to.” The Halo glasses process all visual and audio inputs on-device, converting them into encrypted embeddings that preserve functionality without exposing raw data.
Three Companies, One Unified Architecture
The collaboration combines specialized expertise across hardware, voice AI, and inference optimization. Brilliant Labs contributes its open-source eyewear platform featuring AI memory capabilities in one of the slimmest form factors available. Neuphonic delivers the conversational interface, with ultra-low-latency text-to-speech technology running locally to transform the device into a conversational partner with human-like responsiveness. “When you’re having a conversation, speed and privacy are everything. You cannot wait for the cloud to think,” said Sohaib Ahmad, CEO of Neuphonic. “We provide the ‘voice’ of this new ecosystem. By running our advanced speech models directly on Brilliant’s hardware, we’ve unlocked a conversational experience that feels real, immediate, and completely private.” TheStage AI’s ANNA technology bridges hardware and models, optimizing Neuphonic’s voice AI and supporting components including transcription, wake word detection, and speaker diarization to run efficiently on smartphone GPUs and NPUs.
Technical Feasibility at Consumer Price Points
Running conversational AI on a pair of glasses presents significant computational challenges. “Great hardware and great models need a bridge, and that is what we build,” said Kirill Solodskikh, CEO at TheStage AI. “Running conversational AI on a pair of glasses is a massive computational challenge. You have to manage peak memory, latency, and power consumption to make responses feel immediate. Our core technology, ANNA, optimizes Neuphonic’s models and supporting components, including transcription, wake word, and diarization, so they run efficiently on a smartphone paired with the glasses.” The Halo glasses, priced at $349 and available in Q1 2026, will feature context-aware conversational AI that sees and hears in real time, private memory that indexes visual and audio input for later recall, and Vibe Mode, a natural-language interface that generates custom AI mini-apps on demand for applications ranging from personal agents to enterprise workflows.
Future Outlook
The Brilliant Labs partnership with Neuphonic and TheStage AI establishes a new reference architecture for privacy-preserving wearables. As always-on cameras and microphones become commonplace, the question of where data processing occurs will define user trust and regulatory acceptance. By demonstrating that sophisticated AI capabilities can run locally at consumer price points, the collaboration challenges industry assumptions about cloud dependency. Neuphonic’s over 1 million open-source downloads suggest significant developer interest in on-device voice AI, while TheStage AI’s optimization technology addresses the practical constraints of battery life and thermal management. The Halo glasses launch will test whether consumers prioritize privacy and latency alongside functionality, potentially reshaping competitive dynamics in the wearable AI market.
Conclusion
The partnership between Brilliant Labs, Neuphonic, and TheStage AI demonstrates that advanced AI wearables can deliver powerful functionality without compromising user privacy. By moving voice and vision processing onto local devices, the collaboration addresses growing concerns about data exposure while improving responsiveness through eliminated cloud latency. The Halo glasses, available in Q1 2026 at $349, offer consumers an alternative to cloud-dependent platforms from major technology companies.
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ABOUT BRILLIANT LABS
Brilliant Labs is an integrated AI hardware and software company pioneering open source, intelligent wearables. Founded in 2019, Brilliant Labs combines custom-designed hardware with open-source, privacy-first artificial intelligence to create experiences that evolve alongside their users. Backed by leading investors, Brilliant Labs is advancing a distinct vision for AI wearables centered on creativity, curiosity, and trust. Learn more at brilliant.xyz.
ABOUT NEUPHONIC
Neuphonic builds high-performance voice AI models designed to run natively on consumer edge devices. By operating on CPU-only hardware, Neuphonic delivers real-time, low-latency voice interactions that are private by default, and radically cost-efficient. With over 1m open-source downloads, we are now partnering with leading OEMs to embed our technology directly into next-generation products. Learn more at neuphonic.com.
ABOUT THESTAGE AI
TheStage AI builds an AI infrastructure platform that helps teams run AI models faster and more cost-effectively on their own hardware and edge devices. ANNA (Automated Neural Networks Accelerator) gives teams control over quality–latency trade-offs under real-world constraints like memory and power through a simple slider interface. It produces deployable builds through TheStage AI’s compilation and serving toolchain. TheStage AI also offers a library of pre-optimized models and a playground for benchmarking before deployment. Learn more at thestage.ai.
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