New Wearable for Exceptionally Pathetic Men Detects When Their Wife Is Cheating

In an apparent effort to cash in on the hype surrounding AI and wearables, a startup called RAW Ring has come up with a wearable that it claims can catch a cheating partner in the act.

The eyebrow-raising concept, described as a "dystopian loyalty tracker" by the New York Post, claims on its website that the smart ring allows owners to keep "tabs on heartbeats, body heat, and interactions around your partner."

"When something's up, you'll know," the site's copy reads. "Simple as that."

But if anybody even needs such a gadget remains dubious at best.

Whether or not the product will ever see the light of day, the basic concept seems fundamentally flawed. For one, buying the ring in the first place would be indicative of a fundamentally unhealthy relationship lacking in trust. At worst, the ring could be used by an abusive or controlling partner, a personal privacy nightmare in the making.

"The idea behind the ring was to give couples more ways to explore each other’s feelings on a deeper level and build more trust," RAW Ring CEO Marina Anderson told The Verge. "Almost 50 percent of marriages now end in divorce. We would like to build the ring as a symbol of trust again."

The ring is intended to be an extension of the company's anti-catfishing and ghosting dating app, called RAW, that forces users to upload unedited selfies.

"We don’t want to market the ring as any loyalty tracker or tracking device, because it’s not suitable for people who want to cheat," Anderson added. "If you plan to cheat, you’ll never wear the ring because it’ll be easily visible when you do so."

But whether the company will ensure that its ring won't be abused by bad actors remains to be seen. As The Verge points out, we've already seen portable trackers like Apple's AirTags being exploited, allowing creeps to stalk their unsuspecting victims.

Anderson claims the company has done its homework to avoid bad outcomes.

"You don’t always know problems within a relationship, or your boundaries until something happens," she told the publication. "You can always quickly shut it down as well, and completely stop any sharing."

In any case, chances are that the ring is pure vaporware.

The company makes some bold claims on its website about the ring's capabilities, from a "bio-sensor fusion" to "AI detection" that "analyzes voice and emotional cues for changes that tell the real story."

However, the company has yet to build a single prototype.

Real or not, is this what human intimacy in the overwhelming age of digital distractions really looks like? Do we really need to get pinged about our partners' slightly elevated heart rate to form a closer relationship?

It's also not exactly a new idea; for seven years, Apple has allowed users to "send a heartbeat" to loved ones via its Apple Watch, a visual representation in the shape of a beating heart.

But chances are, you've never heard of the forgettable, gimmicky feature.

More on wearables: This 1987 Prediction of What Technology Would Be Like Today Will Make You Gasp and Wheeze

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