Snap Introduces Specs Intelligence to Anticipate Tasks Across iPhone, Mac and AR Glasses

Snap Inc. on Thursday announced Specs Intelligence, a new AI service that has been designed to anticipate user needs instead of simply responding to prompts. The company claims its service can understand a user's goals, priorities, relationships, and routines by connecting with selected apps and tools. It can then surface relevant information and actions based on the user's context, including reminders, meeting preparation, and travel details. Specs Intelligence is currently in the early access phase.

Specs Intelligence Features

Citing an example, Snap Inc. said that before users go into a meeting, the service could highlight decisions that need to be made, questions that may need to be asked, and other information worth remembering. It could bring together flight, hotel, and dinner reservations for an upcoming trip, while also flagging a work deadline that falls during that period.

With contextual awareness, it is claimed to be capable of providing assistance without requiring user prompts every time.

The Specs Intelligence experience also includes Corners and Goals. The former is designed to organise different areas of a user's life, such as work and family, while the latter can be used to set and track longer-term objectives.

While the company has not made it mandatory to have the Specs AR glasses for the service, users with the device will be able to access an extended personal context, with relevant information displayed in their field of view. For example, users can say “Hey Specs”, and the service will provide flight details, hotel information, reservations, and reminders.

Snap Inc. has emphasised that privacy remains a key part of the Specs Intelligence experience. Users can select which accounts and information the service can access. Further, the company claims that Snap personnel cannot view or access the personal content used with the service.

Personal content from connected accounts will also not be used to train or fine-tune Snap's AI models, nor will it be used to serve personalised advertisements, according to the company.

Snap is initially rolling out Specs Intelligence in a limited manner. Users can join the waitlist through the Specs website or the Specs app, while the full early-access experience will be available exclusively through the Specs Mac app and on an invitation-only basis. In the US, the company has begun an iOS preview, although it offers access to a limited set of features, including personal insights.