Rabbit R1

I rather like the look of this peculiar thing.

It’s a handheld AI assistant that promises to be useful by tying into many of your existing services and using them for you through a voice interface. I tend to view most AI objects as toys, but this weirdly appeals to me. It’s “cheap,” at least compared to the Humane AI pin, and somehow subscription-free, for use over WiFi or 4G if you put a SIM card in it.

As cute as it looks – Danish outfit called Teenage Engineering is responsible for the design – it promises use as a tool. The push-to-talk side button, the physical scroll wheel – these are all signals of actual tool use. Whether the machine fulfils the clever design signals, who knows. But I look forward to finding out. The notion of an AI kit with access to knowledge and policed access to everyday services has a utilitarian appeal.

A hand terminal. “Box” from STAR COPS. An easily pocketable puck that extends a field of action at a distance.

Obviously this comes from a place of disappointment with Siri and hallucinating AI chatbots with less charm than Amazon descriptions.