Exclusive: ‘The point isn't that it never misunderstands; it's that the user stays in control’ — Plaud tells us why its new AI earbuds want to do more than record your meetings

Plaud One records and transcribes calls and conversations, but its broader agent capabilities will arrive in a future update High-stakes actions require approval, while recording is manually triggered, and users are responsible for obtaining consent It features built-in 4G connectivity at no additional cost It’s certainly an interesting time for AI wearables , with smart glasses in particular attracting a lot of attention — and raising privacy concerns around the potential for users to video people without their permission.

Announced for pre-order today, Plaud One Explorer Edition is a new wearable AI device, primarily aimed at professionals, that's designed to capture your conversations, so that it can produce actions and reports based on the discussions you’re having during your working day Worn as earbuds or used through its standalone case, Plaud One can capture calls and in-person conversations.

Recordings are uploaded automatically for transcription and summarization as they happen, so (in theory at least) you’ll never need to write anything down again.

Plaud One also has agentic capabilities that Plaud says can take actions across tools like Gmail, Google Calendar, Notion and Slack based on your conversations.

However, when we quizzed Plaud about exactly what will be available at launch it told us: “Explorer Edition is the complete Plaud One hardware, but broader new Plaud Intelligence agent capabilities will be available in a future update.” That caveat pushes the agentic features further into the future.

So what agent abilities will work at launch, rather than arriving later in App 4.0? I spoke to the Plaud team to find out.

They told me that, “At launch, users can press and hold the Agent Button and speak to the agent.

Hands-free 'Hey Plaud' activation through the earbuds is coming in a future firmware update.” Privacy concerns Given the obvious privacy concerns, I asked the team if recording is manually triggered, and how other people know it is happening.

“Yes, recording is manually triggered with the press of a button,” they told me.

The team didn’t mention any audible or visible indication that recording is taking place, instead placing responsibility on the wearer to inform the people around them: “Plaud encourages users to follow local laws and best practices for recording consent," they added.

"Where consent is required, users should inform participants before recording.” Plaud Agent uses the context of your conversations to identify possible actions, such as preparing a follow-up email after a client meeting or producing a finished report based on a discussion.

But can it actually send an email, post to Slack or create a calendar event without confirmation from the user? “It depends on what the action is”, said the Plaud team.