Background & Timeline

Looking back in history, it seems that with the advancement of technology, people's lives have become increasingly convenient. However, at the same time, they have also relinquished more and more of their privacy rights. From letters to telephones, and now to streaming platforms, nowadays when people go out to eat, they must first take a photo and upload it to social media. People are uploading more and more aspects of their lives to internet platforms, and they are happy to do so. Such developments have granted unprecedented power to a few companies, enabling them to pry into every aspect of people's lives, sometimes even better than people know themselves. The 2018 Facebook-Cambridge Analytica incident serves as a warning bell. Undeniably, such technology is objectively advanced, but the privacy concerns and regulatory challenges it generates are side effects that we must confront.

Looking ahead, technology continues to evolve, and the rise of AI supermodels may take personal data collection to new heights. On one hand, the more information users provide to AI, the more powerful and comprehensive services AI can provide to users. This may become indispensable, akin to infrastructure, after further AI development. It might be difficult to imagine now, but perhaps in the future, people may not even need tobuy things—AI will automatically make purchases based on their needs. At that time, losing AI support will have a huge impact on individuals. On the other hand, the nature of large models determines that their progress definitely requires a large amount of data support, which also gives AI companies the motivation to collect information. This creates a market where both buyers and sellers have motives and demands. Inevitably, I believe a new type of device will emerge in the future, collecting all user information to provide unprecedented services. While this may constitute a significant infringement on privacy rights, does prohibiting such behavior mean hindering the progress of productivity, or even for large models, hindering technological progress itself ?

Such contradictions and reflections prompted me to create a fictional brand, "Molecule." It is a future AI hegemonic enterprise, and its "Molecule View" series of AI-assisted devices have become the best-selling products in the world, further consolidating its AI dominance with the massive user data it brings. Its logo is a combination of the letters A and I forming the letter M.

Branding

Molecule's logo design is relatively simple. The design is a combination of M and AI to represent its core business. At the same time, the middle connection has a certain organic feel, which echoes the name of the company.

Product Design

The Molecule View adopts a design form of a headband, predominantly in white color. Plastic combined with glass creates a lightweight yet elegant appearance [Pic-1&2&3]. Its outer side features a series of sensors, with the most prominent being the four fisheye lenses placed around it, allowing observation of the user's surroundings [Pic-4&5&6]. Additionally, there are microphones, Lidar, and other sensors concealed under perforations or white panels. On the inner side, there are five electroencephalogram (EEG) sensors and motors, enabling feedback based on the user's thoughts [Pic-7&8]. The middle part of the Molecule View has an adjustable headband, while the back is wrapped in fabric to ensure comfort and personalized wearing [Pic-9&10].

Privacy Indicator

To address the privacy challenges posed by such new devices, authorities require that the extent of information collection by the devices must be indicated to people in the vicinity through lighting. Red indicates the highest level, signifying the collection of all information, including video. Of course, as the collection level increases, the services the device can provide become more abundant, so this does not prevent everyone on the street from having a red light flashing above their heads.

Base Station

In conjunction with the headsets, there is also a series of base stations placed in various corners of the city. These base stations utilize millimeter wave technology to receive information collected by the headsets and upload it to the Molecule servers, providing real-time AI feedback to people. Of course, this information is also utilized by Molecule to improve their AI. A typical base station consists of multiple machines facing different directions [Pic-1], each machine being a standalone operational unit [Pic-2]. Inside each machine are numerous modular receiving antennas to ensure signal bandwidth and quality [Pic-3].