The AI ​​gadgets are here, but are they useful?

If 2023 was the year of AI software, 2024 is shaping up to be the year of AI hardware.

In recent months, companies like Google, Samsung, Meta and Microsoft have introduced smartphones and laptops – even glasses – that all claim to heavily integrate generative artificial intelligence. But this moment also gave rise to a new type of device focused on user interaction with AI.

At an event held at the TWA Hotel in New York last month, customers took delivery of the very first Rabbit R1s. Bright orange and the size and shape of a pack of sticky notes, the device features a compact 2.88-inch screen, a camera in the upper right corner, a scroll wheel and a button on the side to activate voice commands. The idea, according to Rabbit CEO Jesse Lyu, is to reduce the number of steps it takes to do something you currently do on a smartphone.

“Our mission is to create the simplest computer – something so intuitive that you don’t need to learn how to use it,” Lyu said during the company’s Consumer Electronics Show keynote in January.

Instead of scrolling through pages of apps and notifications, while trying not to get distracted by Instagram, Rabbit says users can simply issue a command to the R1. Then, using an artificial intelligence technology they call “high-action model,” the device will respond to that request.

At least, that’s the idea.

The first rabbit fans

Daniel Ko is a fractional CFO for AI startups. He says his work doesn’t involve Rabbit at the moment – ​​he’s just a client for now – but he sees a lot of potential in the R1.

“Personally, for me, I bought it because it looked super cool and, in a way, it’s the first generation product of something that could be, you know, maybe like the next iPhone,” Ko told ABC Audio.

“I think right now I’m just curious,” said Danny Cole, a New York-based artist who also owns an R1. He says he likes the idea of ​​a device that keeps people away from smartphones.

“I think it’s hard for us to predict whether phones will be the answer to our needs ten or twenty years from now,” Cole said, adding, “they probably won’t!”

Jonah Cohn is a student in Chicago. He told ABC Audio that he came to New York just so he could collect his R1 in person.

“I would definitely consider myself an early serial adopter,” said Cohn, who also owns a Vision Pro, Apple’s mixed reality headset that went on sale earlier this year. “I’m definitely the type that likes to try things with the first generation so I can figure out what’s going to take over the rest of our world.”

But he also said early adoption is risky — especially when it involves artificial intelligence, which has been criticized for being unreliable and imprecise.

“I was afraid I’d have this thing and it wouldn’t do what it said. And I still haven’t figured that out, because you know, even though I just got it, I’ve only had it for about five minutes, you know? Cohn said.

The human AI pin

Rabbit isn’t the only tech company staking claim to the AI ​​gadget space. Humane, a company founded by several former Apple employees, recently began selling the AI ​​Pin, a $699, 1 3/4-inch-square, 1/3-inch-thick wearable device that attaches to a person’s clothing, like a lapel pin.

“The AI ​​Pin is a completely new type of computer,” Humane CEO Bethany Bongiorno told ABC Audio. She said that despite the price – and the $24 monthly phone plan – the Pin is not intended to replace a smartphone.

“When you bought a smartphone, it didn’t replace your laptop. But it created a very different relationship with your laptop,” Bongiorno said. “It was a lot more focused – you would go to your laptop for certain things that he was very good at. You went to your smartphone for things it was really great at. And in our opinion, the Pin allows you to have a more focused relationship with your phone.

According to Humane, a phone is used for things like watching videos and scrolling through social media. The AI ​​Pin, on the other hand, is meant to handle tasks like sending messages, setting reminders, and finding things. The Pine’s responses, like those of the Rabbit, are read aloud by an automated voice. These responses are generated by a combination of large language models – that is, artificial intelligence technology capable of understanding and generating human language – from companies like OpenAI and Google. Bongiorno said this is all to prevent users from getting caught up in their phones.

“I prefer my pin at multiple times throughout the day because I choose to want to stay present,” she said. “Personally, I want to be able to live my life in the world with my family and friends, and I want to try to use my phone less.”

However, reviews of the AI ​​Pin have so far been overwhelmingly negative.

The pin is swept

Tech reviewer Marques Brownlee, who goes by “MKBHD” on YouTube, titled his review of the Humane device “The Worst Product I’ve Ever Reviewed…So Far.” A review from technology publication The Verge notes that “the AI ​​Pin is not worth the price.”

Cherlynn Low, deputy editor of Engadget Reviews, told ABC Audio that the device “doesn’t solve any real problems” and “doesn’t know how to be good.”

“There was a strong reaction when the Humane AI Pin reviews were published, where many reviews were negative, including mine,” said Julian Chokkattu, editor-in-chief of Wired Reviews.

He said his complaints about Pin covered everything from its limited functionality to its unreliable AI-generated responses. Several reviewers said the AI ​​Pin took too long to answer questions, meaning they often turned to their smartphone for answers. Others experienced overheating issues that made the AI ​​Pin uncomfortable to wear.

Humane responded that many of these issues are fixed in software updates, which will “allow (the) Ai Pin to become smarter and more powerful over time.” The company added that it will continue to make improvements.

In a statement, the company told ABC News that the AI ​​Pin represents “only the first page of the first chapter of an entirely new product category.”

Chokkattu, however, said buyers should refrain from purchasing incomplete devices: “My request would be that they just ship finished products, but we are unfortunately not in that world anymore.” In the meantime, he said, most people already own a device that does everything AI gadgets try to do.

“Personally, I think none of these devices coming out have offered anything close to dethroning, like the smartphone,” Chokkattu said.

AI gadgets in the real world

Not everyone had a disappointing experience with these early AI gadgets. Jonah Cohn, the first adopter of Rabbit R1 from Chicago, also has a Humane AI pin. He says it’s proven helpful, like when he recently came across a group of people dressed in costumes in a park.

“I saw a bunch of people cosplaying in Star Wars outfits, and I was like, ‘Hey, why are people cosplaying in Star Wars outfits in Chicago today? Something is happening ? And within seconds he was able to inform me that there was a convention down the street,” Cohn said. “It was pretty cool. I didn’t have to pull out my phone, I didn’t have to disengage from the social interaction I was in. I just put it down really quickly.

Even so, aside from the device’s technical capabilities, Cohn said the Pin presented some social challenges, like the first time he wore it to the grocery store.

“I was a little embarrassed when I got to the register, and I quickly took it off my shirt,” he said. “Because I know it’s not a recording, but the guy at the register, who I know a little bit, doesn’t know that. And I don’t really want to put him in that awkward situation of “is this guy recording me?” »

About a week after the Rabbit event, Danny Cole tested his new R1 at McCarren Park in Brooklyn, New York. When prompted, the device accurately answers questions like “what’s the weather like right now?” and “who was the president in 1955?”

Additionally, the R1 was also able to identify certain things around it using its camera system, saying things like “those appear to be pigeons” and “that’s a Jeep Wrangler.”

But Cole admits the device is far from perfect.

“There was a song I had in mind, and there were certain lyrics that I remembered very clearly. And I was like ‘oh, I bet I can ask the bunny what song that is,'” Cole told ABC Audio. “I asked the Rabbit and he gave me a different song. And I tried again and again and again, but it just didn’t get the song right.

After a week of ownership, Cole said he was disappointed with his purchase. The R1 lacks features it expected to find, and its reliance on AI for its responses means it can be inaccurate.

“It’s unfortunate to say, but, point blank, it doesn’t really work reliably yet,” Cole said.

Rabbit told ABC News that the “accuracy and detail (of R1’s responses) are based solely on” the broad language patterns he uses. Rabbit has also started sending out software updates to fix some issues.

But for now, Cole’s smartphone isn’t going anywhere.

“It’s really cool to show it to people – watch it when it works,” he said of the Rabbit R1. “But it’s only useful when you can count on it to work.”

Listen to the full story from ABC Audio: