Aina’s smart ring has a screen, a joystick and a mic so you can talk to AI agents

Hardware startup Aina today released what it calls its "AI ring," a $399 smart ring equipped with a screen, a joystick, a microphone and a speaker. The company, which raised $5.5 million in July, is pitching the device as a controller for both AI and non-AI applications, letting wearers talk to agents, take notes and answer phone calls directly from a finger.

Aina previously made Mirage, a three-key controller whose buttons changed based on what was on a Mac's screen — mapping camera toggle, mute and leave controls during a Google Meet call, for example. The startup says it carried lessons from that device into the ring. Through the microphone, users can take notes, send prompts to agents, set reminders, and dictate into a Mac using either Wispr Flow or Aina's own dictation engine.

Beyond agent interaction, the ring carries a speaker for calls and a display that shows phone notifications and identifies which app is currently being controlled. Navigation runs through the joystick plus gesture support, allowing actions to trigger based on what appears on a Mac or phone screen. The device can also control music and smart home hardware such as Apple TV.

The market for smart rings that do similar work already includes the Pebble Index 01, Sandbar Stream, Oasis and Natura — which is why Aina stacked on extra controls to differentiate. In a few days of testing, TechCrunch found the ring felt like a smartwatch in ring form: notifications arrive and can be replied to, meetings surface, and an Uber ride can be summoned. Apple TV's own remote remained easier to use, though the ring helped when the remote was missing. Much of the software and feature set is still being fleshed out.

Aina founder Apoorv Shankar argued the device targets a shift in computing: "Phones and laptop screens were designed for an age of browsing where you think about opening apps. For interacting with proactive agents, we need a better interface." That thesis places Aina alongside a small wave of agent-focused gadgets, including OpenAI's experimental keyboard and Rabbit's effort to position itself as a controller.

What to watch: whether enough users actually run multiple agents simultaneously to justify wearing dedicated hardware, and whether Aina can finish its software in time to convert a multi-day trial into daily habit. The answer will shape whether agent-native wearables become a category or stay a niche accessory for AI enthusiasts.

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