There really isn't anything of substance in this article. Just a low-quality complaint about AI and AI devices with such hot-takes as:<p>> You will notice that many of these tasks are just interacting with the lazy Silicon Valley dipshit treat ecosystem that already exists.<p>Honestly I'm hesitant about AI devices as well but dismissing it entirely is very Luddite-like. Will these smart AI devices succeed? Who knows... It's a risk but I can absolutely see areas where these devices will succeed - like bringing tech to the tech illiterate (or even just illiterate).<p>And Rabbit's price-point puts it in a very competitive position to be the iPhone of AI devices. Worth watching to see how these things continue to develop.
For those of you who argue that a device like this is useless I urge you to visit someone with Parkisons, essential tremors, ALS, rheumatoid arthritis, limb injuries etc as well as very low vision and observe the difficulty they have interacting with the vision + multi-touch interface of their phones.
I dislike and object to the scope of this device as much as the author.<p>It's not a popular view, but I hope Teenage Engineering is acquired by a very large company soon so that they can be relegated to functioning somewhere as a harmless novelty devision.<p>This way they will get a big pay day and be treated like a prize, while their influence to create proprietary devices for the landfill is effectively quashed.
I’ll let rich people test this thing out for me. Looking forward to all the news, articles, blog posts etc. of people’s experience (good or bad) using this thing. Wish I could get some kind of RSS feed about successes/failures of this thing.
Teenage Engineering does interesting and good work. Similar to Kano, they have very good modern design ideas and they produce actual devices. That's the best thing about this useless evil thing. It exists in the world and can provide inspiration for others to work on.<p>Another positive-ish thing to say would be is that this device is likely going to increase in value. Not because its popular but because it is going to be rare.
This is giving me flashbacks to Web 2.0. We won’t need web sites anymore! Everything will be an API and we can have our own custom front-ends to all these services!<p>It sounds great on paper. If I were selling widgets, I might want an API so people have yet another avenue to buy widgets and put money in my pocket. But at that point I’ve lost control of the widget-buying experience and I can’t collect as much data on the audience of widget buyers.<p>Public APIs disappeared as quickly as they showed up and companies focused on partnerships. You can’t ask your voice assistant to order you a pizza from the local joint, but if you say “I want a Pizza Hut pizza” we’ve got you covered.<p>I expect this product to go the same way. People will find a way to block their browser automation and the universe of things it can do will shrink until it’s a glorified timer and to-do list. But if you want a medium stuffed crust and a side of wings, we’ve got you covered.
This is an imperfect glance at the future. The apple watch is another: my gf interacts with hers mostly by voice, and uses it instead of her phone for most things.<p>With the limited bandwidth of voice, your interaction with the phone will be tiktokified: some algos will decide what’s spam, what’s legit, what you should see right now. Unless you can afford a flagship phone, your phone will be as worthless as google search.
I myself have stated I feel bringing tech to the tech illiterate is usually a mistake because those people are largely a security hazard to any large IT enterprise. Teaching dumbasses to use tech is how exactly how even a DECADE after The iloveu bug emailing malware to huge corporations members and spear phishing them with chained malware was how most companies got hit because its next to impossible to teach John over there in marketing not to at least ask his fellow workers if they really sent that email before downloading every attachment and executing it as well as every Excel spreadsheet that demanded you enable macros and enabling them. For OVER A DECADE, phishing emails with chained malware were how companies got hit because the tech illiterates refused to learn.<p>Like, when you let the morons in, they become a Security Hazard.<p>But if this device, can keep tech illiterates, from using and interfacing with the tech we need to secure, All the better.<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8s9uzPIqQ4" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8s9uzPIqQ4</a><p>Yuki did nothing wrong.
I'm actually pretty interested in the hardware and form factor, and absolutely <i>un</i>-interested in the corpo backend services.<p>I wonder if it's possible to homebrew this odd little square.
My question is what happens when you veer off the happy path for a given task? Like if your hotel cancels, or thinks you didn't pay and you did? Seems like disasters waiting to happen.
> <i>I resent AI. Not AI itself–that’s just code, despite what tech guys with flashlights under their chins tell you.</i><p>What this based guy doesn't realize is that recognizing that complex neural networks are "conscious" is precisely the way to stop companies from abusing them for everything.<p>Also, is it just code? Can you show me the code that lets an LLM reason in the way it does? You'd have just as much luck pointing to the neurons that let a human do that. If it WAS just code, it'd be GOFAI (Good Old Fashioned AI) -- a literal algorithm. That's code. And that'd be better since it would be something we could understand and troubleshoot, not a magic black box of brute forced insane computing power that megacorps and nation states can monopolize.
I don't think this thing is any more evil than a hammer. It's a tool. If it's not useful to you, don't use it. If it's not useful to anyone, it will quickly cease to exist. I don't think it's going to do anything to erode the concept of morality. I don't have to trust it with my money any more I would trust anyone else about my money.<p>This kind of take, which is common with AI, always assumes this odd state of blind trust. As if I can't read and reason about the output like I would anything (or anyone) else's output. Are there people I trust more than AI? of course. Do I trust AI more than some people? also true. Would I blindly trust a person or AI without doing some of my own reasoning at some point in the process? no.
It seems to me the author of this article is going to have a tough time in the coming brave new world. I do love the writing style and wit though and Im even inclined to agree. Still, AI-ALL-THE-THINGS is coming. Imagine a Siri/Alexa that actually DOES STUFF.
I'm not so aligned with this article. I think this product shows a great deal of vision and creative risk. Even if it ends up as a failed experiment, I think it's still a worthwhile effort, and I'll be happy to see where they go with it.
The idea is fine, but the inevitable outcome here is that Apple and Google do the same thing in their respective smartphones and this device (if it's even good at all) is obviated.
> What the people at rabbit are pitching is a device that logs into all your services like Uber and Expedia and then lets you interface with them all at once through an LLM and agents called "rabbits," by way of a little device that does not contain those actual apps.<p>So when A.I. gets hacked, it can start shit-posting on all your accounts? Sounds as useful as lastpass...
<i>> (Takes picture of the contents of his fridge.) This is what I have in the fridge, can you make me a nice dish that’s low in calories? (It then pulls up a recipe without citing its source.)</i><p>That sounds like... something that would make my life slightly better, in a non-essential but desirable way.<p>Can my phone do this already? When will it be able to do it?
It doesn't seem to do anything smartphone voice assistants couldn't soon do - i.e. it provides a voice interface to apps that currently require touchscreen.<p>Examples: ordering an uber, playing a song on spotify, ordering a pizza.
Does it only operate by speaking to it? I don't want to talk to my fisher price calculator in public.<p>As others have suggested, this is novel, and ML in everything will be coming to products soon, but this isn't it.
a "cool SUV"... Sorry I can't do that Dave. (Besides, to an American who doesn't live in NYC or WDC, it feels like a lot more of a vacation to ride the train.)
Yeah nothing of substance here. I will say that theres nothing with Rabbit that I see impresses me that I can't already do with Google voice assistant.
I'm not even here for the "AI creation" horseshit. I just want a better general assistant that's smarter than Siri that can handle task-keeping, calendaring, and reminders better.<p>And I like that it's "push to talk". It listens on my command, not on the whims of a voice query in mid-air.<p>I'll give this a crack because I'm part of the weird population that likes "stand-alone" appliances for things. It's got a certain charm to it that the workflow just would work better for me and my brain that an app alone just can't touch.
It's another "asshole in the middle" device, trying to get in the middle/on-top-layer of all the other things people have put between people and their lives...
Cynical pessimism is easy and lame - it doesn’t make you sound smart, I like to see people try new things.<p>Every new thing has these sorts of articles written about it, they’re best to just ignore.
Why hate? Just don’t buy. The author is a child. Just more ragebait as usual.<p>I do love how people complain about clickbait yet ragebait appears in the front page regularly. There you go - that’s why clickbait is a thing. Techies are not immune