Perseverance and Innovation Drive Buzz for AI Hardware Startup
Jesse Lyu, founder and CEO of Rabbit, spoke at the Collision conference in Toronto this week. While the product has received a good deal of buzz since CES, he has faced challenges in bringing the company's AI-powered personal assistant device, the R1, to market. Despite some less-than-great online reviews and criticism surrounding bugs since its launch earlier this year, Lyu remains undeterred, acknowledging the difficulties startups face in the combined hardware and AI software space.
"It's been a rough early release. There's no doubt about it. But as a startup, this is the best result we can get. And certainly that means that we're not going to stop, we're gonna keep improving the device faster and better," Lyu stated, defending Rabbit's perseverance in the face of adversity.
Lyu suggested that critics need to have a more realistic perspective on the capabilities of startups compared to big tech companies with vast resources. "I think the media perspective of the current AI technology is out there putting big company standards on startups – and assuming that you can compete over a project they dump over a billion dollars [into]," he said.
While the road to success has been rocky, Rabbit's innovative approach to AI-powered personal assistants has garnered attention and buzz at events like the Collision Conference. By persevering through challenges and offering a novel product in a highly competitive market, startups like Rabbit demonstrate the resilience and creativity that drive the tech industry forward.
Other New Hardware Tech Hitting the Market
Rabbit isn't the only tech company staking a claim in the AI gadget space. Humane, a company founded by several former Apple employees, recently started selling the AI Pin, a $699 wearable device 1 3/4 inches square and 1/3 inch thick that attaches to a person's clothing, like a lapel pin.
"The AI Pin is a totally new kind of computer," Bethany Bongiorno, CEO of Humane, told ABC Audio. She said despite the price tag – and the monthly $24 phone plan – the Pin is not meant to be a smartphone replacement.
"When you got a smartphone, it didn't replace your laptop. But it created a very different relationship with your laptop," Bongiorno said. "It was much more focused – you went to your laptop for certain things that it was very great at. You went to your smartphone for things that it was really great at. And how we see it is that the Pin does allow you to have a more focused relationship with your phone."
According to Humane, a phone is for things like watching videos and scrolling social media. The AI Pin, meanwhile, is intended to handle tasks like sending messages, setting reminders, and looking things up. The Pin's answers, like the Rabbit, are read aloud by an automated voice. Those answers are generated by a combination of Large Language Models – that is, artificial intelligence technology that can understand and generate human language – from companies like OpenAI and Google. Bongiorno said it's all in an effort to keep users from getting sucked into their phones.
20th June 2024