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Every time there’s a new hands-off life-capture device (GoPro, Snap’s new Spectacles), I get excited, wondering how I’ll stay grounded once I become Instagram famous. Instead, I use it for a week, get tired of slogging through all the footage, and then introduce it to my tech junk drawer.

But unlike those cameras, Google Clips (starting at $250) shoots only when there’s something worth capturing. Point it at a scene, twist the lens to turn it on, and the A.I. looks for criteria culled from years of data analysis—smiles, gesticulation, a pet entering the frame. The result is seven-second videos, sans sound, at 15 fps. At any time, open the phone app and swipe to save or delete, and select stills (up to 12-megapixel in resolution) from the videos. The machine-learning software will then try to capture more like what you keep, less of what you scrap.

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Google says the 16 GB of memory is impossible to fill in a single event, leaving the three-hour battery life as its limit. The quality becomes grainy in lower-light situations, like at a dinner party. But otherwise it works as advertised, and the results are compelling. You wouldn’t pull out your phone and ask your friend to reenact a hilarious gesticulation. And you don’t have to, because Google’s A.I. shoots it for you.

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