What Brilliant Labs is Promising

• “Narrative” agentic memory: Halo’s on-device AI agent, Noa, continuously turns everything the wearer sees, hears and says into a compressed mathematical representation. Brilliant Labs says this allows Noa to surface a fact, name or conversation detail “years or even decades later” without storing raw audio or video[1][2][3].
• Hardware built for constant capture
• 0.2-in micro-OLED projector and low-power optical sensor in the bridge[4].
• Dual microphones with sound-activity detection plus bone-conduction speakers for private playback[1][5].
• Alif Semiconductor B1 chip with a dedicated neural-processing unit runs the open-source stack locally, claiming 14-hour battery life so the memory stream can run all day[4].
• Privacy posture: Brilliant Labs says raw media is “immediately converted into an irreversible mathematical representation,” never leaves the device unencrypted, and can be paused with voice or a power switch[4][5][3].

How “Decades-Long” Recall Would Work

1. Continuous multimodal capture → vector embedding
2. On-device storage of those embeddings (tiny compared with raw video/audio).
3. Retrieval via natural-language prompts: “What did the recruiter say about compensation the first time we met?”
4. Noa searches embeddings by semantic similarity and returns a synthesized answer or plays back the relevant moment.

Brilliant Labs has not detailed:

• The actual storage capacity, retention policy or overwrite logic for 10-plus years of embeddings.
• Encryption scheme or how users export/delete their memory bank.

Practical Benefits (If Claims Hold)

• Recall people’s names, promises or instructions long after the encounter.
• Low-vision or early dementia assistance by surfacing context (“This is Dr. Mehra; you met her in May 2026.”).
• Automatic life-logging for journaling or quantified-self analysis.

Key Caveats

• Unproven longevity: Halo ships late-2025; the “decades” claim is aspirational and will need hardware replacements and cloud-free migrations to remain true.
• Battery/design trade-offs: Always-on sensing plus projection still depends on a 14-hour lithium-ion cell; daily recharging is mandatory.
• Legal & social friction: Perpetual first-person recording raises consent and admissibility issues in many jurisdictions, regardless of on-device processing.
• Open-source ≠ audited: Code and schematics are public, but users must still verify data-handling claims or rely on third-party audits that have not yet occurred.

Bottom Line

Halo’s “Narrative” system aims to push consumer wearables from moment-to-moment assistance into lifelong memory augmentation. The technical ingredients—low-power sensors, local vector storage and conversational retrieval—are credible, but the decades-long retention promise remains speculative until the product survives real-world use and independent security review.

Sources
[1] Halo smartglasses use AI to give your memory a boost https://www.androidpolice.com/halo-smartglasses-remember-your-life-as-it-happens/
[2] Brilliant Labs unveils Halo, the ‘world’s thinnest AI glasses’ https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/smart-glasses/brilliant-labs-unveils-halo-the-worlds-thinnest-ai-glasses-and-it-wants-to-be-your-everyday-specs
[3] Brilliant Labs launches its second-generation smart glasses https://www.engadget.com/wearables/brilliant-labs-launches-its-second-generation-smart-glasses-130000032.html
[4] These Sleek, AI-Powered Smart Glasses Look Ready To Blow … https://www.bgr.com/1928349/halo-ai-smart-glasses-specs-price-release-date/
[5] halo is here, the open-source glasses with a private AI … https://www.designboom.com/technology/halo-open-source-glasses-private-ai-agent-brilliant-labs-08-01-2025/
[6] Halo https://brilliant.xyz/products/halo
[7] These $299 AI Glasses Replace Your Memory… But At … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1wx0TCfKkw