arXiv · 2609.34950
"Black Mirror?": Public Sensemaking of AI-Powered Lifelogging
Abstract
AI-powered lifelogging wearables are emerging as a new class of consumer devices that transform everyday experience into searchable, AI-curated memory archives. We study early public sensemaking around these systems at the moment of their market entry, using the Looki L1 as an empirical lens. Analysing large-scale Chinese-language and English-language social media discourse (N = 5,053 comments), we combine topic clustering with inductive thematic analysis to examine how users interpret the social, moral, and political implications of AI-mediated memory. Across contexts, users reference dystopian surveillance imaginaries, express privacy resignation and bystander concerns, and debate assistive value alongside consumer logics. English-language comments more often framed these devices through interpersonal power, evidentiary use, and hacking anxieties, while Chinese-language comments more often foregrounded labour exploitation, governance surveillance, and technological inevitability.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
Explore connections, maps & timelines
Ying Ma, Jarod Govers, Le Fang, Shuning Zhang, Yongquan 'Owen' Hu, Xin Yi, Jorge Goncalves. 2026-09-28. "Black Mirror?": Public Sensemaking of AI-Powered Lifelogging. https://doi.org/10.1145/3798063.3837138
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.