I mean these kinds of “AI companions” are grifts anyway. They won’t take off because they are a solution looking for a problem. They aren’t as affordable as the entry level HomePod/Amazon Pod/Google Home units, so they can’t be bought as a “why not, and it’s a speaker anyway” type thing. They don’t have any secondary functionality you don’t already have in your phone.
And if that’s not enough, you can bet your cute arse on that Apple and Google are both working on bringing LLM functions into their assistants, basically making these units obsolete.
The moment that these companies decide that they can’t afford to pay for servers and API subscriptions anymore, the service will die and you’ll end up with a colourful brick. Don’t buy these things, they’re unfinished and will die within a year or two.
They’re a solution looking to solve a problem that already has a well established better solution.
The modern smart phone and voice assistats have been around for 14+ years…
For all these Ai devices can currently accomplish, our budget $200 phones can do an unmeasurable amount more.
If anyrhing, they should be focusing on the voice assistant aspect - “Hey google, add nearest gas station to my trip” “Here’s a list of gas stations (I know you’re driving but please review this list and select one using the tiny select button)” {presses button} “Please enable location data analytics to continue”
That wouldn’t surprise me. I think there’s a Siri shortcut for integrating with ChatGPT. It’s not the most elegant of solutions but it works well enough.
I’m quite sure that this year we’ll see whatever Google and Apple has cooked up in terms of machine learning integration into the operating systems. Likely a flagship feature of the new Pixel phones, and definitely a significant Siri update on iPhone, probably along with some gimmicky feature to sell the new 16 Pros.
At that point, who is going to care about these devices?
The ultimate issue is exactly what you said; phones exist. I’m not carrying another voice assistant around when both Siri and Google Assistant can be installed on my phone.
Based on MKBHD’s review this whole product category definitely screams “solution in search of a problem”
Like, I can imagine a world where a smart watch replaces my phone for day to day stuff, but that’s because I’m in that weird space where I prefer a laptop for almost anything serious, but still appreciate the convenience and functionality of remaining connected wherever I am, even if I’m on the move.
But another device I need to keep in my pocket? What’s the point?
Rabbit has a SIM slot. I think the idea is that once its software gets better, it will be able to be a replacement for a phone for people who just want to quickly do simple things. Its battery seems to be pretty rubbish, though, and for now, the software is not nearly good enough.
The rabbit is also just an android apk. You could literally install the rabbit on a cheap phone if you’d like. It’s beyond useless.
What someone needs to do is put something similar into something all cutesy like a Furby, and sell it for kids. Just a $100 wifi only PG rated thing that can do some fun stuff. It wouldn’t change the world, but it could run a few years of actual profiting and not feel like a rip-off.
Yeah, build this into a watch or Earbud that I already have on person for other reasons but gives me hands free access to a decent AI when I don’t have my phone on me, and I might have some interest.
I mean these kinds of “AI companions” are grifts anyway. They won’t take off because they are a solution looking for a problem. They aren’t as affordable as the entry level HomePod/Amazon Pod/Google Home units, so they can’t be bought as a “why not, and it’s a speaker anyway” type thing. They don’t have any secondary functionality you don’t already have in your phone.
And if that’s not enough, you can bet your cute arse on that Apple and Google are both working on bringing LLM functions into their assistants, basically making these units obsolete.
The moment that these companies decide that they can’t afford to pay for servers and API subscriptions anymore, the service will die and you’ll end up with a colourful brick. Don’t buy these things, they’re unfinished and will die within a year or two.
They’re a solution looking to solve a problem that already has a well established better solution. The modern smart phone and voice assistats have been around for 14+ years…
For all these Ai devices can currently accomplish, our budget $200 phones can do an unmeasurable amount more.
If anyrhing, they should be focusing on the voice assistant aspect - “Hey google, add nearest gas station to my trip” “Here’s a list of gas stations (I know you’re driving but please review this list and select one using the tiny select button)” {presses button} “Please enable location data analytics to continue”
I think there’s already a way to forward Google Home requests directly to ChatGPT, I might be wrong though.
That wouldn’t surprise me. I think there’s a Siri shortcut for integrating with ChatGPT. It’s not the most elegant of solutions but it works well enough. I’m quite sure that this year we’ll see whatever Google and Apple has cooked up in terms of machine learning integration into the operating systems. Likely a flagship feature of the new Pixel phones, and definitely a significant Siri update on iPhone, probably along with some gimmicky feature to sell the new 16 Pros.
At that point, who is going to care about these devices?
The ultimate issue is exactly what you said; phones exist. I’m not carrying another voice assistant around when both Siri and Google Assistant can be installed on my phone.
Based on MKBHD’s review this whole product category definitely screams “solution in search of a problem”
Like, I can imagine a world where a smart watch replaces my phone for day to day stuff, but that’s because I’m in that weird space where I prefer a laptop for almost anything serious, but still appreciate the convenience and functionality of remaining connected wherever I am, even if I’m on the move.
But another device I need to keep in my pocket? What’s the point?
Rabbit has a SIM slot. I think the idea is that once its software gets better, it will be able to be a replacement for a phone for people who just want to quickly do simple things. Its battery seems to be pretty rubbish, though, and for now, the software is not nearly good enough.
But it’s just an Android app in a dedicated device that reviews say has a shit interface and battery.
Run it on a cheap phone that does more for less.
The battery part is fixed now 😂 they were able to give that thing 5x battery lifetime trough a software update
Makes me wonder what they where doing in the background prior this update
That’s amazing, I hadn’t heard about the battery fix!
Former crypto company… Power drain… I feel like there’s an answer here…
The rabbit is also just an android apk. You could literally install the rabbit on a cheap phone if you’d like. It’s beyond useless.
What someone needs to do is put something similar into something all cutesy like a Furby, and sell it for kids. Just a $100 wifi only PG rated thing that can do some fun stuff. It wouldn’t change the world, but it could run a few years of actual profiting and not feel like a rip-off.
What phone is that that supports both Siri and Google Assistant on the same device?
iPhones only, basically. Google Assistant is available through an app, but that’s still more convenient than buying a $200 device
Yeah, build this into a watch or Earbud that I already have on person for other reasons but gives me hands free access to a decent AI when I don’t have my phone on me, and I might have some interest.