Following the initial tease of its Thus AI chip, Anker announced the first earbuds with the component during its Anker Day event. The Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro and Liberty 5 Pro Max both utilize the chip for what the company calls Whisper Clear voice performance. Of course, the usual earbud features are here — active noise cancellation (ANC), voice controls and personalized sound — but there are some unique tools available on these models as well. Those include an AI Note-Taker on the Liberty 5 Pro Max and touchscreen charging cases for both.

Let’s start with what the Thus chip does on both sets of Liberty 5 Pro earbuds. The silicon is used alongside eight microphones and two bone conduction sensors to ensure optimal voice performance in noisy locations. By also employing an AI model, the system separates the speaker’s voice from background noise so they’re heard clearly on the other end of calls. Anker says the bone conduction sensors allow the setup to cture the user’s voice a lower volumes, so long as they’re in “moderately quieter settings.” The Thus chip also powers voice commands, offering 20 options for various controls and tasks, with Anker claiming a response time of under a second.

Both the Liberty 5 Pro and Liberty 5 Pro Max have Soundcore’s Adtive ANC 4.0 that uses those eight mics to process audio data at up to 384,000 times per second. This action continuously monitors both external noise and any sounds that may enter the ear canal before adjusting the ANC in real time. Anker says its noise-canceling algorithm can combat a broad range of noises — including human voices. What’s more, the company claims the ANC performance on its new earbuds is up to 2x more effective than the Liberty 4 Pro.

Anker

To customize the sound to your ears, both sets of earbuds offer HearID 5.0. This feature creates a personalized EQ based on a brief hearing test. With the help of AI Sound Enhancement, the earbuds provide audio restoration that can recover up to 65 percent of “the quality” that’s typically lost to Bluetooth compression.

In terms of battery life, both the Liberty 5 Pro and Pro Max will last up to 6.5 hours on a charge with ANC enabled. When you factor in the charging cases, the total use time is 28 hours for each model. Multipoint Bluetooth connectivity is also onboard both, as is Bluetooth 6.1, ple Find My and Google Fast Pair compatibility. Plus, both sets of earbuds are IP55 rated for dust and water resistance.

There is one main area where the two new models differ istheir smart cases. The Liberty 5 Pro case has a 0.96-inch TFT touchscreen on its front edge while the Liberty 5 Pro Max case has a much larger 1.78-inch AMOLED display. The Pro Max is also equipped with an AI Note-Taker that’s cable of generating transcripts, including identifying speakers and action items, after meetings in the Soundcore p. This feature isn’t available on the Liberty 5 Pro, but Anker does offer AI-based translation on both models. Translation is available on the earbuds with the Liberty 5 Pro, and it’s available on both the earbuds and the case with the Liberty 5 Pro Max.

Both the Liberty 5 Pro and Liberty 5 Pro Max are available today for $170 and $230 respectively. The Liberty 5 Pro is available in black, blue, pink and white while the Pro Max will come in either black or gold.

If you’re someone who believes AI should stay out of the arts, and especially your earbuds, you might want to sit down for this news. On Thursday, Spotify announced a partnership with Universal Music Group that will allow you to use AI tools to create cover songs and remixeson the streaming platform.

So imagine At Last by Etta James mixed with the 2010 hit Baby by Justin Bieber, or even mashed up as a country or folk version.

The AI-powered tool will not be included in Spotify memberships by default. Instead, it will be a paid add-on option for Spotify Premium members, the music streaming service said. A launch date has yet to be announced.

It’s unclear whether music artists will have any control over their music being used in fan edits, but we can make an educated guess that artists who own their music outright, such as Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, will have the most say.

Lucian Grainge, CEO of UMG, said in a statement that the initiative is “designed to support human artistry, deepen fan relationships, and create additional revenue opportunities for artists and songwriters.”

Alex Norström, co-CEO of Spotify, said: “What we’re building is grounded in consent, credit, and compensation for the artists and songwriters that take part.”

Recently, numerous music artists have spoken out against the intersection of AI and music creation, includingBilly Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins,Billie Eilish, Jon Bon Joviand more.

In addition to this partnership, the streaming service also announced Reserved, a new ticket initiative that reserves two tickets for top Spotify Premium subscribers, allowing them to buy tickets for select artists a day before they go on sale to the general public.

It’s now one of the 10 countries where (supervised) FSD is now available.

That’s around 10 percent of the company, according to a memo from yesterday seen by multiple outlets.