Prediction certainty 3/5 debate potential 3/5

Asawa: Many more AI products will become ambient and always-listening

Chai Asawa · Inside Abridge: The AI Listening to 100 Million Doctor Visits — Abridge's Janie Lee & Chai Asawa · May 14, 2026 · at 7:48

Chai Asawa of Abridge discusses why ambient listening is the future modality for AI products.

0:00 / 0:07exact quote · 7.3s
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“We're ambient, and we're always listening in the background. And I think many more AI products will go that way, but it's actually how we started.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

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