Qualcomm survey finds 70% want AI agents on their wearables

What the survey found

Qualcomm has published results from a survey of more than 12,000 wearable owners and prospective buyers across six markets, according to Android Authority. The company polled people about its vision for Personal AI, and the answers suggest strong appetite for assistants built into watches, rings and glasses.

Around 70% of respondents said they want a personalised AI agent they can talk to, one that handles their devices, apps and daily tasks. Roughly 65% to 70% expressed interest in wearables that cooperate through a single shared agent, and nearly half said they would like an assistant that learns their routines and acts on its own initiative.

AI is already part of daily wear

The survey suggests AI on wearables is not a future idea but a present habit. Nearly 60% of wearable owners said they use AI features every week. Among smart glasses owners, that figure rises to 70%.

Qualcomm also read the results as a shift in how people see these devices. Respondents increasingly treat wearables as intelligent companions that help them get through the day, rather than simple phone accessories. The company believes wearables will see the fastest AI adoption of any device category in the coming years, though as a chip supplier for these products it has an obvious interest in that forecast.

Privacy sits uneasily beside automation

There is a catch in the data. About 60% of wearable owners want their information kept private, or want to give permission before it is shared with anyone.

That preference pulls against the desire for proactive assistance. An agent that must ask before every action cannot act on its own, so companies face a trade-off between user control and genuine automation. Android Authority notes this tension as the central problem for anyone building these assistants.

How companies are approaching the problem

Current products show different answers to the privacy question. Meta's Muse AI, for example, asks users to approve messages and payments before it sends them, though owners can switch that approval off. Meta would also like Muse to connect to customers' financial accounts, and the company's record on privacy has drawn criticism.

Perplexity's Hybrid Compute takes another route: personal information stays on the device, and only other data goes to the cloud when needed. Health firms such as Ultrahuman simply ask users to opt in before any health data is shared.

Why it matters

Qualcomm supplies processors for many wearable devices, so its enthusiasm for on-device AI is hardly neutral. The company says its chips can already handle most of what survey respondents asked for, which doubles as a pitch to device makers.

Whether these agents become genuinely useful beyond messaging and translation is still an open question. The survey does make one thing clear: buyers want the convenience, but they also want a say in where their data goes.