While many companies pursue visual AR, audio AR ("hearables") remains an untapped frontier. The auditory system has more available bandwidth than the visual system, making it ideal for layering non-intrusive, real-time information for applications like navigation, trading, or health monitoring.
Rather than trying to predict which founders will succeed, veteran investor Ariel Poler optimizes for personal growth and impact. His criteria: work with good people on interesting projects where he can learn and contribute. He accepts that many will fail, viewing the experience and relationships as valuable outcomes.
Companies with radical, long-term visions often fail by focusing exclusively on their ultimate goal without a practical, near-term product. Successful deep tech companies balance their moonshot ambition with short-term deliverables that provide immediate user value and sustain the business on its journey.
The optimistic view is that AI-driven free time will unlock mass creativity. However, historical precedents, like European nobility, show that only a tiny fraction of a leisure class pursues art or science. The vast majority defaults to gossip, lavish parties, and simple entertainment—a sobering prediction for the future.
The sci-fi allure of brain implants and embedded chips often overshadows practical alternatives. Ariel Poler argues that most desired functionalities, from interfacing with AI to carrying identification, can be achieved with less invasive external devices like advanced hearables or wearables, questioning the necessity of risky surgical augmentation for healthy individuals.
Early human augmentation startups used Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (TDCS) to create wearable devices that could induce specific mental states. One version acted as a stimulant, like "digital caffeine," while another induced relaxation, like "digital cannabis," by delivering low-voltage electricity to specific brain regions.
Investor Ariel Poler defines his impact not by what he does, but by what wouldn't get done without him. He deliberately seeks nascent or overlooked fields like human augmentation, where his capital and mentorship provide unique, incremental value, rather than joining the crowd in popular sectors like AI.
While Universal Basic Income (UBI) might solve the economic fallout from AI-induced job loss, Ariel Poler is more concerned with the resulting existential crisis. For most people, jobs provide identity, structure, and meaning. The challenge isn't just funding people's lives, but finding productive ways for them to spend their free time.