Startup Hark Debuts AI Agent Ahead of 2027 Hardware Launch

Entrepreneur Brett Adcock’s artificial intelligence-focused hardware startup, Hark, introduced a new “proactive” AI app ahead of launching its first devices next year.

Hark Pro, announced Tuesday, accompanies a wave of AI agents, tools that can accomplish tasks on someone’s behalf. The startup’s software can do things for the user like buy groceries, book a car or build a spreadsheet, the company said. It’s available for free on the web or as an iOS or Android app. Customers can also pay $20 a month for twice the normal usage limits or $100 for a 10-fold increase.

The software will pair with Hark’s family of AI hardware products, which will start rolling out in 2027, according to Abidur Chowdhury, head of design at Hark and a former design lead at Apple Inc. who helped create the iPhone Air. Little is known about the forthcoming devices, except that Hark is partnering with AT&T Inc. to offer cellular service.

“We want them to be portable, and useful in the home and workplace,” Chowdhury said in an interview. “We aren’t in the game to make wearable cameras — we don’t really believe in glasses with cameras or a pin you can wear. We understand the culture more than some of these other AI companies.”

Competition is heating up in the nascent AI hardware space. OpenAI is building a family of artificial intelligence products under the design direction of Apple veteran Jony Ive, while Meta Platforms Inc. recently unveiled the Charm, a palm-sized gadget for using Muse, the company’s popular new AI agent. Apple, meanwhile, will soon debut smart-home products built around its Siri AI assistant, Bloomberg has reported. It’s also planning camera-equipped AirPods earbuds for 2027.

Read More: Meta Debuts Dedicated ‘Charm’ Device for Using Muse AI

Hark Pro uses its own cloud computer, called Handoff, to remember what you tell it and tackle quotidian problems. This may include, for example flagging when a child’s lunch-card balance is low and refilling it, or gleaning from emails that you booked a flight but not yet a hotel. In one example, the company said Hark Pro could find seats at a movie theater, assess parking, offer a spot at a nearby garage and send a QR code for entry when the user likely needs it.

Handoff can handle as many as 36 browsers at the same time and log in to millions of different websites for users, according to the company. It features so-called Action Buttons, which let users quickly pay a bill or cancel a service, as well as tools to create personalized mini apps. It can also remember a user’s preferences, from their favorite dog breed to their document formatting style, and then apply that context to interactions on the platform.

Adcock, who also co-founded Archer Aviation, funded Hark with $100 million of his own money. The AI hardware startup has since been valued at $6 billion. He sees the business growing alongside Figure AI Inc., his humanoid robot company that was valued at $39 billion last September.

Aside from the AT&T tie-up, Adcock has said Hark’s devices will be "distinct from existing handsets, wearables and smart glasses,” and that the goal is for the products to feel essential enough that their absence would amount to “a day of lost information.”