So I Ordered the Rabbit R1...
The future of AI is in our hands in the form of a palm-sized device known as the Rabbit R1. Opening up a brave new world where search, generative AI and more, will never be the same again.
It's been a week since my last confession, so it's time for another session (I love how that rhymed with "confession"), with the digital Priest of Hive.
However, in the run-up to that last post, I watched a keynote (more like a "Stevenote"), about a little device with the potential to set a new paradigm in the world of AI.
If you follow tech news as I do, I'm sure you've heard of the Rabbit R1 device. This palm-sized gadget almost looks like something out of The Jetsons, and has a retro, yet futuristic vibe about it. The speaker, doing his best to channel the late, great, Steve Jobs, clearly learned a thing or two about hardware design and giving a good presentation, because he nailed it in both areas.
When I first started watching the unveiling, I wondered (as many others did) "why can't this be an app on my phone?" But as I looked more into it, that question was answered in the form of the many permissions that would be needed and the restrictions imposed by being on someone elses device.
I could picture the concessions, and the rats nest of approvals needed if they went that route. So it became very obvious that in order to provide the seamless experience on offer, it had to be its own thing on a device of its own.
I was transfixed as I watched the speaker use plain natural language to effortlessly plan a trip. No need to use stilted and precise phrases such as the ones needed with Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant.
You just tell it what you want it to do naturally.
I haven't felt this way about a potential game-changer since I first laid eyes on the Bitcoin whitepaper back in 2009/10.
the $199 price point made this almost an impulse purchase for early adopters like me. i got into crypto when everyone else in my area was warning me off it.
They didn't get it.
I did.
I could see the promise offered by crypto just as I can see the utility in the Rabbit R1. It runs on the Rabbit OS, with a push-to-talk button, and it even has a SIM card slot...
The 'LAM' (Large Action Model) that its based on, allows it to be optimized for (from the rabbit.tech website):
Search
Music
Rideshare
Food
Vision
Genarative A1
Translation
With more to come.
There's also an experimential 'web teach mode' where you'll be able to train Rabbit to learn new things. They've also mentioned an actions store, where you'll be able to download new actions directly to your device, in case you don't want to teach it yourself.
If it can do HALF the things shown in the keynote, it's a worthwhile purchase for someone like me. I've RAILED against people using ChatGPT to write entire posts FOR THEM on Hive. But I've also been careful to say that I'm fine with those who use it to ASSIST THEM in blogging (I just want them to write the actual post themselves, out of their own head), can you see the difference?
I've spent HOURS in research when putting together a post, and the Rabbit R1 will help to cut that time way down. Even more so when I just need that quick factoid in order to illustrate a point, as opposed to scrolling through page after page on Google.
"This Will Be Copied!" (Just Like one of the Pod People...)
For instance I could ask it: "Is Meesterboom one of the Pod People?"
Then we'll have our answer (he just "looks" human). :)
If you're in one of the first 100,000 orders, your Rabbit R1 will come with a free year of Perplexity Pro (a $200 value. Trust me, you want this.), which you can start using RIGHT NOW.
This add-on essentially cancels out the cost of the R1, while making for a more powerful unit overall.
Now of course you know...
As MKBHD once said about the Dynamic Island feature on the iPhone 14 Pro: "This Will Be Copied!."
You know damn well that executives at Apple, Amazon and Google, were watching this presentation as well. So I fully expect Apple in particular, to offer a luxe, and more refined AI personal assistant of their own.
But it ain't here yet folks.
I was very impressed with what I saw, and can't wait to get my hands on the Rabbit R1. What do you think of this hardware-based, AI personal assistant?
How did you know!!
Aye! Twas the bulk purchases of Miracle Gro plant food delivered in the dead of night, that gave it all away!
EGAD! (Now that's a word you don't hear every day). :)
It's a Pod persons favorite food.
Now where's my vat of weedkiller...
It had better be a strong weedkiller! :OD
This is the first I have seen such a thing. Figures something like this would come along eventually. I will be curious to see how you like it.
I was amazed too when I saw it. I can't wait for the device to arrive (months from now), it could be a real time-saver.
or it may kill and replace you with a T-1000 that looks like Arnold.
Lol! That'll be the Rabbit R7! By then I'll be safely hidden away at my Fortress of Solitude deep in the Andes. :)
source
I'll join ya!
Been keeping my eye on those and am looking forward to see how they turn out!
I can't wait, but since I'm in batch 6, It'll be somewhere in the June/July timeframe before I get mine. The early-birds in batch 1, will get theirs around Easter, so we'll see the first reports around then.
I expect more than just apple and google to reasons to this.
It is clear that generative AI offers a way for hardware producers to get out of the AppStore/playstore strangle hold and create a device that does not have to be suited to the rules made by Apple and Google.
I think Samsung will give it a try. They’ve wanted to have their own operating system for quite some time.
And before the end of the year there should be at least 10 more coming from China. Not necessarily as good as the Rabbit R1 though.
You bet. They were smart to go the hardware route. Breezes past all that app-related, permissions-based, mess.
The Rabbit keynote was slick, I just hoped the device is as well. I wouldn't be surprised if somebody bought them out.
What made me finally pull the trigger (in batch 6, no less), was the upgrade with Perplexity Pro. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait till June/July to get my hands on mine, since I bypassed batch 1 due in March...
It was a great keynote indeed.
Now that I’m thinking about it, I think the company that definitely is going to do something comparable is x.ai with Tesla and X.
Grok seems to be pretty accurate already (and funny) and how convenient will it be for Tesla customers to just talk without having to use the proper command words.
Yay! 🤗
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I like the idea that its not from a Big Tech company as that way there is a better chance that my data will actually be kept private.
I've been avoiding public LLMs because of the privacy issues but realise I am missing out.
I might have a good look at Rabbit.
The CEO has released a couple other short videos on X showing the R1 in use. They want to decrease response times in search as well as add other functionality. I haven't been this interested in something new since the early days of Bitcoin. I just hope they can live up to the hype.
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