[Gadgets] AI gadgets are here, but are they any good

[Angel of Death]

If 2023 was the year of AI software, 2024 is shaping up to be the year of AI hardware. Over the past few months, companies like Google, Samsung, Meta and Microsoft have shown off smartphones and laptops – even glasses – all of which claim to heavily integrate generative artificial intelligence. But the moment has also given rise to a new type of device centered around getting users to interact with AI. At an event in the TWA Hotel in New York City last month, customers took delivery of the very first Rabbit R1s. Bright orange and about the size and shape of a packet of sticky notes, the device has a compact, 2.88-inch screen, a camera in the top right corner, a scroll wheel, and a button on the side to activate voice controls. 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 at the company’s Consumer Electronics Show keynote in January. Instead of sifting through pages of apps and notifications, all while trying not to get distracted by Instagram, Rabbit says users can simply speak a command to the R1. Then, using an artificial intelligence technology they call a 'Large Action Model,' the device will fulfill that demand.Daniel Ko is a fractional CFO for AI startups. He says his work doesn’t involve Rabbit at the moment – he’s just a customer 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, like the next iPhone maybe,” Ko told ABC Audio. “I think in this moment I’m just curious,” said Danny Cole, an artist based in New York City who also has an R1. He says he likes the idea of a device that moves people away from smartphones.

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/ai-gadgets-good/story?id=109900173