Memories.ai, a visual AI model company, has a new take on AI wearables with Project LUCI, opting to be a developer-first platform rather than a consumer device, the company revealed to ZDNET earlier this month, ahead of CES 2026.

Project LUCI (Long Understanding Contextual Intelligence) is designed to serve as a reference platform for developers. The goal with Project LUCI is to become the Android of AI wearables, a platform that can easily be developed for and iterated on so that companies can make their own devices. 

Project LUCI will allow people to recall their past conversations, decisions and other moments. A companion app will convert past events into searchable memories. 

"After seeing several high-profile AI wearables fail, we realized that the space still needed a lot of maturing, so we pivoted LUCI from a consumer device to a system-level reference design for other smart wearable companies to test, build and experiment on top of our large visual memory model, a platform that gives AI the ability to remember like humans," Shawn Shen, co-founder and CEO of Memories.ai, said in an interview with CNET's sister site.  

Shen believes that past AI wearables failed to gain traction because they lacked memory and proper contextual understanding. Memories.ai solves for this with its latest LVMM 2.0 model. The wearable converts video capture into on-device encoded frames, which can then be referenced. Shen equated Project LUCI to Google's Nexus line of phones, which were developer- and enthusiast-first phones with minimal software flourishes to showcase the Android platform. Memories.AI will work with other AI wearable companies, such as Rokid, Sharge and RayNeo. 

As for security, Shen says the team will be working with cloud providers on "best practices to ensure enterprise-grade data security, encryption and access control across the entire system." Memories.ai will also be working with chip maker Qualcomm to power the pin and add extra layers of security. 

Project LUCI comes in the wake of multiple failed or lackluster AI wearables. Past AI wearables, like the Rabbit R1 and the Humane AI pin, lacked the software prowess to be a true AI companion. Often, these devices were slow and had difficulty working autonomously, such as calling an Uber with just a voice command. While Humane AI shut down, Rabbit R1 has been updating its device with more capabilities. Even then, if these devices aren't as easy to use and frictionless as smartphones, then it'll be a hard sell for consumers. 

Despite the flat response from consumers, the overall AI wearable market is a significant business, encompassing AI glasses and other mixed reality devices. The global AI wearables market is estimated to currently be valued at $44 billion and is expected to reach $311 billion by 2033, according to Grand View Research.

LUCI is on the show floor at CES 2026 with full availability coming later in 2026. Reservations are currently open.