Wake Word Detection Happens On-Device
Most AI voice hardware runs lightweight wake-word detection locally (to avoid always streaming audio to the cloud), then hands off the actual query processing to a cloud AI assistant once triggered — a meaningful privacy and battery-life distinction worth understanding.
Dictation vs. Assistant Queries Are Different Features
Dictation (speech-to-text for documents) and assistant queries (asking a question, getting an answer) often use different underlying services even on the same device — confirm which your target buyer actually needs before finalizing a feature set.
Where Translation Hardware Differs
AI translator devices add a second layer — not just recognizing speech, but translating between languages, which is why dedicated translator hardware often includes offline language models that a general AI voice mouse does not need.