The reviews of the Rabbit R1 AI-assistant-in-a-box are in, and they are less than glowing. To be sure, the half-phone-sized orange device has not received the critical mauling that befell the Humane AI Pin, another wearable AI assistant that recently launched.
The R1’s reception has been warmer partly because it’s much cheaper ($199 vs $699 plus a $24-per-month subscription) and partly because it works somewhat better. But there seems to be a lot of frustration around the fact that, like the Pin, it doesn’t yet do everything that was promised.
Specifically, the R1’s AI is supposed to be able to use a bunch of apps on behalf of its bearer, but at launch, it only works with four: Spotify, Uber, DoorDash, and AI image-generator Midjourney. Add to that a shockingly low battery life of around four hours, a clunky UI and…well, here’s tech reviewer Marques Brownlee, who ranted about the R1 along with certain big-budget video games and Tesla vehicles: “These AI-based products are at the apex of this horrible trend where the thing that you get at the beginning is borderline nonfunctional compared to all the promises and all the features and all the things that it’s supposed to maybe someday be. But you still pay full price at the beginning.”
Ouch. Now, I haven’t gotten my hands on the R1 (though as a musician I’m always intrigued by products from its co-designer, Teenage Engineering, which are usually musical instruments). Nor have I tried the Humane AI Pin. But I do have some thoughts on the genre of wearable AI assistants nonetheless.
In short: Why? Smarter AI assistants are already entering our smartphones this year, thanks to the well-resourced companies that make them. So what is a separate device that comes with its own cost, needs its own charging, and comes with significant limitations supposed to achieve?
Don’t get me wrong—I wouldn’t be a tech journalist if I didn’t love innovation, and it’s great to see people trying out crazy new ideas. But the beauty of the modern smartphone is that it subsumes a bunch of other things, from cameras to navigational aids to wallets. The smartphone is a simplifier and it’s darn good at it, especially with the strides that have been made in recent years regarding miniaturized optics, processing power, and battery life. It frees us from having to buy and carry around more stuff than is strictly necessary, which is boon to both our bank accounts and the environment. Why introduce more stuff that just replicates a subset of the smartphone’s functionality, but worse?
I’m very intrigued by the idea of using the R1 as an agent, but again, you don’t need a separate device for that. It’s a very similar idea to that espoused by Deutsche Telekom earlier this year when the German communications giant showed off a concept smartphone with an AI concierge acting as its interface. I wasn’t sold on DT’s claim that this innovation would kill off the app, but even if it does, we’re talking about a new kind of phone, with a big friendly screen and all the other stuff you like to use, not a complementary device. Another important point here is that, if we’re talking about AI assistants that need to learn about us to act as our agents, there can be no better hub for that to happen than the endlessly multifunctional smartphone.
A big part of the pitch for these new devices is that they’re supposed to free us from the tyranny of the smartphone’s screen, with all its tempting, addiction-stimulating notifications. Well, okay, but we already know that you can embed assistant functionality into other things that we already use, like headphones or Meta’s smart Ray-Bans. That’s efficient. A new piece of gadgetry needs to justify its existence.
If you really want to avoid smartphone distractions, there are things you can do right now: Reorganize your home screens so the most addictive apps aren’t always in your face; turn off the badges that harangue you to check notifications; and don’t send notifications to your smartwatch if you have one. These all work. I’ve done them and I feel much healthier for it. Less is more. And achieving it doesn’t cost a dime.
More news below.
David Meyer
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NEWSWORTHY
UMG and TikTok make peace. Universal Music Group and TikTok have finally struck a new licensing agreement, after the world’s biggest music publisher let the last one expire at the end of January, resulting in three months of no UMG music on TikTok. The companies said they would work to ensure that AI in music “will protect human artistry and the economics that flow to those artists and songwriters,” and that TikTok would support artists with integrated ticketing capabilities. Variety reports that UMG’s absence from the platform “seemed to have little substantive effect on TikTok, apart from some bad press.”
Jassy broke law. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy broke federal labor law by telling the media in 2022 that, if his employees unionized, they would become less empowered and their workplace would become slower and more bureaucratic. This was the finding of a National Labor Relations Board judge yesterday, based on the prohibition against companies threatening to punish workers for organizing. Amazon intends to appeal, the Seattle Times reports, but the Amazon Labor Union—the complainant in the case—said the ruling “sends a clear message that attempts to dissuade workers from exercising their right to organize and bargain collectively will not be tolerated.”
More Google layoffs. Google is laying off at least a couple hundred of its core engineering staff, with some roles going to India and Mexico, CNBC reports. The layoffs—affecting Google’s Python developer team as well as many in security, app platforms, and so on—come a couple of weeks before Google’s annual I/O developer conference.
SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
1/3
—The proportion of Americans whose personal data was caught up in the massive ransomware attack on UnitedHealth subsidiary Change Healthcare, according to UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty, who admitted to Congress that he authorized a $22 million ransom payment in the incident.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Tesla’s top HR executive has left the company, sources say, by Bloomberg
Tesla slashes its summer internship program to cut costs, as Elon Musk fights to save his $45 billion pay plan, by Bloomberg
AI boom still running hot as SK Hynix says its already sold majority of its 2025 allotment of high-bandwidth memory chips, by Lionel Lim
Microsoft inks $10 billion green energy deal as power-hungry AI forces its hand to meet emissions commitments, by Dylan Sloan
An AI company you never heard of just raised $1 billion. Here’s what CoreWeave’s new $19 billion valuation really means, by Sharon Goldman
BEFORE YOU GO
Tesla gigacasting pullback. Tesla has reportedly abandoned its plans to make the entire underbody of its cars in one piece. According to Reuters, the company will instead continue its current “gigacasting” technique of making underbodies in three pieces. This may successfully cut costs in the short term, but a key advantage of Tesla’s planned gigacasting innovation would have been to simplify manufacturing down the line, leading to future cost cuts.
