Stop Touching Your Keyboard. Use This AI-Powered Microphone Instead
Startup Relay is developing a dedicated, portable microphone designed to improve voice-to-text dictation for office environments. The device aims to solve the problem of background noise and volume control while integrating with AI-powered software.
Why it matters
It represents a growing trend of hardware-software integration in the AI space, moving beyond pure software solutions to address physical workflow constraints.
Now, a new startup is entering the fray. Unlike its software-focused peers, Relay is building a dedicated, portable microphone for high-fidelity voice-to-text anywhere. Based in London, Relay was founded by two former Nothing employees: Cookie Xu, who was Nothing's head of AI and services, and Raymond Zhu, a hardware product manager. While the company is debuting its software today, the hardware—what it calls the Relay Q—won't be available until early 2027.
Zhu says when he and Xu worked at Nothing, they used Wispr Flow's transcription software to “type” most of their messages at work. He says it greatly helped with thinking out ideas, but they kept running into an issue: talking loudly in an office.
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