Aina Opens Pre-Orders for $399 AI Ring With Screen, Joystick and Microphone

The device, which the company simply calls the AI ring, went on pre-order on Thursday at an early-bird price of $399, rising to $499 afterwards. Aina plans to begin shipping in January 2027. The company raised $5.5 million in July.

The launch is one of a growing number of attempts to build dedicated hardware for people who run several AI agents at once. Aina is entering a crowded category: the Pebble Index 01, Sandbar Stream, Oasis and Natura rings already offer voice capture and similar features, and OpenAI has shown an experimental keyboard while Rabbit has repositioned its device as a controller.

"Phones and laptop screens were designed for an age of browsing where you think about opening apps. For interacting with proactive agents, we need a better interface, and that is what we had in mind while designing Aina," founder Apoorv Shankar told TechCrunch.

Through the microphone, wearers can dictate prompts to agents, set reminders and take notes, or dictate text on a Mac using Wispr Flow or Aina's own dictation engine. The speaker allows phone calls, and the screen shows phone notifications and which app is being controlled. The joystick and gesture support trigger actions depending on what is on the Mac or phone screen, and the ring can also control music and smart-home devices such as Apple TV.

The design draws on Aina's earlier product, Mirage, a three-key controller for Mac whose buttons changed function depending on the app in use, for example muting the microphone or leaving a Google Meet call.

In a hands-on review, TechCrunch said the ring felt like a smartwatch in ring form, handling notifications, replies, meeting alerts and even an Uber booking, but that much of the software was still being developed. Whether enough buyers run multiple agents to justify a separate gadget for them is the open question for Aina and its rivals ahead of first deliveries in January.