TL;DR
The leaked Meta memo confirms an AI suspension that will enter testing next year. The company is also planning Wearables for Work and augmented AI glasses.
Meta is developing a pendant powered by artificial intelligence It plans to begin testing within the next year, according to an internal memo seen by The Information. The device is built on top of the Limitless acquisition Meta, which was completed in late 2025. Limitless has designed a pendant that users can attach to their shirts or wear as a necklace to record and transcribe conversations.
The memo also outlines Meta’s plans to expand its line of AI eyewear and launch a business subscription called Wearables for Work. The enterprise tier will position Meta’s hardware as a productivity tool rather than a consumer innovation. Meta’s hardware division, Reality Labs, lost $4 billion in the first quarter of 2026 alone.
The AI suspension category has a troubled history. Humane’s AI Pin launched in 2024 to dwindling reviews and virtually died within a year, with HP buying the startup’s assets for $116 million. Another AI startup, Friend, spent more than $1 million on subway ads and struggled to find users. Neither device offered enough utility to justify wearing an extra gadget.
Meta’s approach differs in one important respect. He already has a working wearables business. Meta has sold more than seven million Ray-Ban smart glasses in 2025 and controls about 82% of the smart glasses market. The pendant would be a second form factor in an ecosystem that proves consumer demand, not a stand-alone product bet in a category that doesn’t yet exist.
Limitless raised more than $33 million from investors including Sam Altman and Andreessen Horowitz before Meta acquired it. CEO Dan Siroker said at the time that Meta’s vision “personal super intelligence” through wearables, in line with what Limitless had built.After the acquisition, the startup stopped selling the devices to new customers, but continued to support existing users.
The Wearables for Work subscription is the most commercially interesting detail on record. Meta’s glasses now integrate with Meta AI for voice prompts, real-time translation, and visual recognition. The enterprise tier can add meeting transcription, ambient note-taking, CRM integration, and hands-free access to workplace tools. The concept mirrors Microsoft’s Copilot subscription model, but delivered through hardware rather than software.
The wearables market is divided into different categories. Apple Watch dominates the smartwatch segment, but is losing momentum to screenless health trackers. Oura has applied for an IPO. Whoop and Google’s Fitbit Air focus on passive data collection. The Meta’s hanger will fall into the fourth category: ambient AI capture, an always-on recorder that complements rather than replaces the phone.
The privacy implications are significant. Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses have already faced lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny over how they handle footage captured by their internal cameras. A pendant that records conversations raises the same concerns in a more intimate form. The regulatory environment in the EU, where Meta faces ongoing DMA enforcement and GDPR scrutiny, may limit where the device is sold.
Meta’s hardware strategy has now spread to glasses, pendants, a planned smartwatch codenamed Malibu 2, VR headsets and a Vision Pro competitor. The company is betting that AI wearables will recoup Reality Labs’ cumulative losses of more than $60 billion since the division was created. The pendant is a piece of this bet. Whether it succeeds where Humane and Friend failed depends on Meta being able to make the ambient AI note useful enough for people to wear it and reliable enough for people around to tolerate it.
