New Health and Wellness Devices That Deliver Big and Overcome AI Resistance

MedTech devices using AI got a bad rap with early overpromises and a market flooded with unnecessary and sometimes inexplicably weird products. Concerns around opaque decision making, accuracy, algorithmic bias, data privacy, and the lack of standardized protocols¹ further tempered expectations and hindered adoption by providers and patients alike.

Some brands, however, were willing to innovate and confront these concerns head on. I was introduced to many of these brands at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world’s largest and most influential showcase of new technology. There were some novel consumer innovations on display, like Kirin’s electrified spoon that simulates saltiness as a way to help people reduce sodium intake. But by far the most interesting and significant health-related products were those that offer new capabilities only possible with AI. They help address the needs of underserved audiences and offer ways of reducing costs, eliminating barriers, and otherwise improving healthcare access.

Here are some of the new health and wellness devices that make good use of AI.

Bling by Braindeck

Image: Braindeck

Bling consolidates features that used to require multiple devices into a single wearable for the speech impaired. Using integrated microphones, speakers, cameras and even a built-in projector, along with improved learning algorithms, the device converts atypical speech and sign language into audible speech in real time. This creates opportunities for a wider range of patients including those who may be in recovery from a cerebrovascular event or traumatic brain injury, or dealing with ongoing disease progression like dementia.

XanderGlasses

Images: Xander

Issues with current smart glasses, including weight, battery life, and privacy concerns, have limited the appeal of products like Meta/Raybans. XanderGlasses avoid most of these problems by focusing on a single, specific task — listening to environmental conversation and showing a live transcript of what’s being spoken within the field of view, with new features adding translation and environmental comprehension as boosts to those with cognitive challenges.

As one of the most mature applications of AI learning models, this device makes an entire world of experienced content available in a more discrete form.  And without the need for a camera sensor or high-resolution graphics, the device can remain smaller, lighter, cheaper, and last longer.

Naqi Neural Earbud

Images: Naqi

Naqi offers a compelling new alternative to more invasive implants. Building on the theme of wearables for accessibility that don’t immediately draw attention as assistive tech, the Naqi earbuds use a range of embedded sensors and AI learning algorithms to control devices through subtle facial micro-gestures as small as a glance or movement of the jaw muscles. It integrates with computers, smart devices, wheelchairs, and even in the case of one product demo, a Boeing 737 flight simulator

ElliQ Robot Assistant

Image: ElliQ

Unlike other chatbot-style devices aiming to replace human interaction with AI, ElliQ offers a unique approach – facilitating continued face-to-face conversations with friends and family through video chat, prompting seniors to reminisce and share stories that can be recorded for posterity, and even social network with other users of the device to form new relationships (including a new weekly bingo meeting of some ElliQ users).

More than social fulfillment though, ElliQ encourages active conversation around sensitive topics like health and aging.  Where many chatbots find themselves limited by content filters that avoid or sanitize topics entirely, ElliQ leans in by probing things like quality of life, medication adherence, and experiences of pain and mental health.  Paired with their Caregivers app, it can flag issues like changes in sleep patterns or illness, track progress toward goals, and alert friends, family or providers when necessary – without coming off as intrusive or stigmatizing in ways that hindered adoption of earlier products like LifeAlert.

Hormometer by Eli Health

Image: Eli Health

With questions swirling around genetic testing platforms like 23andme, which is facing bankruptcy, consumers are rightfully cautious about the future of privacy and their biometric data. Personal sexual, reproductive and hormonal health information and politicization of health policy further jeopardizes access and confidentiality.

Enter the Eli Hormometer. Using AI trained models to analyze saliva samples locally on a smartphone instead of sending out samples to a lab, the Hormometer seeks to assuage concerns that your data and physical specimens could fall into the wrong hands. Analyzing cortisol and progesterone, the Hormometer aims to empower patients to better track stress, and manage conditions like Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). With plans to expand testing to include testosterone and estradiol, devices like the Hormometer could play a significant role in access to care.

Continuous Glucose Monitors

The shift in glucose monitoring has followed the trend set by GLP-1 inhibitors originally developed for diabetic patients to a larger audience of health-conscious users. Devices like Abbott’s Lingo and Dexcom Stelo are now targeting fitness enthusiasts and prediabetics, offering insights on diet, exercise, and glucose impact. These devices promote metabolic health and personalize strategies for maintaining a healthy weight and lifestyle, with AI enabling more nuanced customization and forecasting.

Image: Abbott

Looking Ahead in 2025

A successful CES launch doesn’t determine which products will be successful, or that new product niches will gain acceptance. But by tracking how products like those explored here perform in the coming months and years and aggressively seeking out partnership opportunities, savvy pharma and medical device brands can capitalize and reach untapped patient audiences with less risk.  Audiences aren’t inherently resistant to new tech – they’re just waiting for the right application at the right time, and for brands to respect and proactively address their concerns, especially with the first generation of AI tools.

¹ Hassan M, Kushniruk A, Borycki E. Barriers to and Facilitators of Artificial Intelligence Adoption in Health Care: Scoping Review. JMIR Hum Factors. 2024 Aug 29;11:e48633. doi: 10.2196/48633. PMID: 39207831; PMCID: PMC11393514.