JUUL has been called ‘highly addictive’, but the firm may be developing a new product that helps users kick the habit once and for all.
The San Francisco company filed a patent that describes an artificial intelligence powered product that delivers fewer nicotine amounts to the user by learning their smoking habits over time.
The document highlights a device that alternates between nicotine and a non-nicotine product in order to gradually reduce the intake of the drug.
The device may also be connected to a smartphone that could log how much nicotine is being consumed, allowing the device to determine how it should regulate the drug, as first reported on by The Logic.
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JUUL filed a patent that describes an artificial intelligence powered product (stock) that delivers fewer nicotine amounts to the user by learning their smoking habits over time
JUUL started off as a way of providing the world’s one billion smokers with an alternative to combustible tobacco products.
With their goal to completely eliminate smoking, JUUL has now become the number one vapor product in the United States, according to Nielsen.
But the patent, which was published last summer and recently made public, may just help the firm stick to its promise.
The document says a ‘controller may apply machine learning to adjust delivery of nicotine and/or non-nicotine vaporizable material’ based on the user’s behavior – and
The user’s behavior, in turn, ‘may be learned through monitoring the vaporizer use and behavior of the user’.
JUUL is also said to be developing another new vaporizer that is designed to only unlock for users older than 21.
The e-cigarette maker says an app will lock the device and it will only unlock if users can verify that they are above the legal age to smoke in the US, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The San Francisco-based company plans to submit its proposal to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by May 12.
The document highlights a device that alternates between nicotine and a non-nicotine product in order to gradually reduce the intake of the drug. The device may also be connected to a smartphone that could log how much nicotine is being consumed, allowing the device to determine how it should regulate the drug
It comes as JUUL is hit with more lawsuits that allege it targeted teens and misrepresented the possible health risks of using its products, but the company claims it’s committed to fighting the vaping epidemic.
The firm has already introduced e-cigarettes with an age-proof lock in the UK and in Canada, according to The Journal.
The mobile app that unlocks the device can also track nicotine consumption.
To use the device, one must submit a photo as well as a government ID when first logging onto the app.
JUUL was founded by Stanford design student graduates Adam Bowen and James Monsees in 2015 who applied their knowledge of technology innovation and industrial design to create an e-cigarette product.
And although Monsees said they developed Juul for adult smokers who want to stop and never wanted any non-nicotine user, and certainly nobody under the legal age of purchase, to ever use JUUL products, it seems their marketing tactics say otherwise.
Washington DC, California, New York and North Carolina, all of which filed similar lawsuits against JUUL saying the e-cigarette maker’s online ads and promotions illegally targeted minors.
DC Attorney General (AG) Karl Racine announced the lawsuit in November 2019, alleging that the company ‘created a teen public health crisis by ‘deliberately targeting underage consumers’ and ‘deceiving consumers about the content, strength, and safety of its products.’
Racine alleges that viral marketing, consisting of colorful ads and trendy flavors, contributed to the surge in underage vaping by teens across the US.
‘JUUL has created a public health emergency in the District and nationwide by marketing its highly-addictive nicotine products to children, and failing to warn consumers about the harmful effects of e-cigarettes – all in its pursuit of profit,’ said AG Racine in a press release.
‘With this lawsuit, we are seeking to hold JUUL accountable for its illegal practices that have unfairly and unconscionably dragged a new generation into nicotine addiction.’
Last year, an epidemic of mysterious lung illnesses linked to vaping has swept the nation, sickening 2,172 people and killing 47 Americans in 25 states and DC.
Most of the victims who’ve fallen ill are male and under the age of 35, with the ages of those who died ranging from 17 to 75.
Health officials have charged that teens and young people make up the majority of illnesses because flavored e-cigarettes were marketed towards them.
Most of the illnesses have resulted from people vaping a combination of THC, the main psychoactive component in marijuana, and nicotine
Although JUUL’s products contain nicotine, not THC, politicians have used the epidemic to try and regulate the e-cigarette maker.