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AI companies aren’t managing to crack consumer hardware just yet.
- The Humane AI Pin had loads of hype, yet it disappointed.
- The Rabbit R1 did a bit better, but are you buying it?
- Don’t even get me started on the nightmare fuel that’s Figure AI…
All these announcements seem really cool, and yes, being integrated with generative AI does indeed make them more of a commercially… viable reality than Google Glass (Are we gonna keep pretending it didn’t exist?).
But I still think there’s a long way to go before we start carrying dedicated consumer AI devices everywhere we go.
The Why
Let’s take a look at the two most recent AI devices to launch: the Humane Pin and the Rabbit R1.
Both devices seem great on paper. They’re a pair of intuitive and uniquely designed portable devices that are intended to act as a sort of “AI assistant.” — In an ideal world, it felt like we’d have our very own Pocket-JARVIS
Now, let’s illustrate the reality of these devices:
- Imagine Jarvis was a bad listener with poor comprehension, eyesight, and just wasn’t that smart — yet despite this, it was still extremely confident…
That’s how I’d describe them for now, but this isn’t a review, if you’re interested in a review go watch MKBHD’s videos. In a nutshell: The devices sound really cool, but don’t perform as intended.
So, the first obvious red flag is performance, right?
In that case, the second problem comes from the market, or at least, our perception of these products and what we’re benchmarking them against (smartphones).
I know… I know… the first iPhone came with its own issues. I witnessed many of them firsthand, but bear in mind that, despite any and all the issues the iPhone had at launch — it was a huge improvement to the alternatives on the market.
- The iPhone wasn’t just cooler or more futuristic or better performing… it spoke to what people wanted.
In that vein, when you look at the AI-powered consumer hardware available today…
