Rewind AI launched an app that records all visual and audio information on Mac devices into compressed, searchable files.
Rewind AI recently launched a new tool for Macs that allows users to record all visual and audio information on a Mac. The information is compressed, stored and searchable one demand. “We use native macOS APIs and Optical Character Recognition to analyze everything on your screen”, the organization describes.
Let’s say you opened a Slack message from ‘John’ a week ago. Querying ‘John’ in the tool will fetch the message. After watching a YouTube video on plants, querying ‘Plants’ will produce the video. Aside from text, the tool records audio. Videoconferences in any app are transcribed to be searchable as text.
How does Rewind work?
Rewind records your activity and claims to compress raw files up to 3,750 times without a major loss in quality. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is used to capture text alongside automated speech recognition to transcribe audio. Rewind AI wants to log a flawless history of events. “Our vision is to give humans perfect memory”, co-founder Dan Siroker said.
Privacy conerns
The software was scrutinized by Twitter and YouTube users due to privacy conerns. The narrative of Rewind’s ‘perfect memory’ may backfire.
Employers, law enforcement and intelligence agencies could use the data to track an individual’s activities. Rewind has responded to the backlash by stating that the recordings are saved locally and are only supposed to be accessible by the end user.
The technology records meetings and conversations, which can be illegal without consent. As such, Rewind advises users to always ask for consent ahead of a meeting. The organization places responsibility on its users.
Despite the criticism, investors are excited. Andreessen Horowitz is leading a $10 million funding round at a valuation of $75 million. The venture capitalist believes the technology can cure information overload.
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