As Americans are being hailed as folk heroes for sawing down Flock surveillance cameras across the country, British home appliance company Dyson has come up with a form of video surveillance that we didn’t even know was possible.
Yes: the company has launched a new AI-infused electric toothbrush that features a “100k pixel macro lens camera,” allowing users — brushers? — to “see what their dentist sees.”
The appropriately named Dyson CameraJet claims to analyze 28 images per second and employ an “AI machine-learning algorithm” to identify and target “interdental gaps.” In case you’re wondering how it can take pictures in the darkness of your mouth, a “stroboscopic light” ensures “precise illumination for optimal camera visibility.”
It also hooks up to WiFi and Bluetooth, theoretically opening it up to all kinds of cybersecurity shenanigans if somebody were to identify any vulnerabilities in Dyson’s software.
“By combining a camera, machine learning, precision fluid dynamics, advanced brushing technologies, connectivity and WiFi, Dyson CameraJet introduces an entirely new way to keep your mouth healthy,” founder and chief engineer James Dyson boasted in a statement.
Of course, all of that sensitive video surveillance footage of the inside of your mouth is going to cost you dearly. The undoubtedly overengineered gizmo — which looks more like an undersized hair curling iron than a familiar electric toothbrush — goes for a whopping $499 and at least comes with two brush heads, a charging cable, and a “refill dock.”
Naturally, Dyson will happily sell you a “proprietary non-foaming toothpaste” as well, which lacks a common synthetic foaming agent called sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) to make sure the toothbrush surveillance camera isn’t impeded by all those suds.
We’ll leave it up to you whether you deem the product, which allegedly required the input of 661 engineers, is worth the price of an iPad Air or roughly ten Oral-B Pro 1000 electric toothbrushes — a popular budget pick for those who don’t need AI to brush their teeth.
More on surveillance: Flock Is in Major Trouble