(Web Desk) - Jesse Lyu, the CEO and founder of an AI startup called Rabbit, says he doesn’t want to replace your smartphone.
At least not right away. His company’s new gadget, a $199 standalone AI device called the R1, is so staggeringly ambitious that Lyu seems to think he can’t help but replace your phone at some point. Just not quite yet.
The R1 looks a little like a Playdate console or maybe a modernized version of one of those ’90s-era handheld TVs. It’s a standalone gadget about half the size of an iPhone with a 2.88-inch touchscreen, a rotating camera for taking photos and videos, and a scroll wheel / button you press to navigate around or talk to the device’s built-in assistant.
It can control your music, order you a car, buy your groceries, send your messages, and more, all through a single interface. No balancing apps and logins — just ask for what you want and let the device deliver.
The R1’s on-screen interface will be a series of category-based cards, for music or transportation or video chats, and Lyu says the screen mostly exists so that you can verify the model’s output on your own.
It has a 2.3GHz MediaTek processor, 4GB of memory, and 128GB of storage, all inside a rounded body designed in collaboration with the design firm Teenage Engineering. All Rabbit says about the battery is that it lasts “all day.”
I spent a few minutes with the R1 after Rabbit’s launch event, and it’s an impressive piece of hardware. Only one device (Lyu’s) was actually functional, and even that one couldn’t do much because of spotty hotel Wi-Fi.
But the R1 is surprisingly light and feels much nicer than it looks in pictures. Its buttons are clicky and satisfying, which is no surprise from Teenage Engineering, and the whole thing fits nicely in my grip. It’s definitely a fingerprint magnet, though.
The software inside the R1 is the real story: Rabbit’s operating system, called Rabbit OS, and the AI tech underneath. Rather than a ChatGPT-like large language model, Rabbit says Rabbit OS is based on a “Large Action Model,” and the best way I can describe it is as a sort of universal controller for apps.
“We wanted to find a universal solution just like large language models,” he says. “How can we find a universal solution to actually trigger our services, regardless of whether you’re a website or an app or whatever platform or desktop?
In spirit, it’s an idea similar to Alexa or Google Assistant. Rabbit OS can control your music, order you a car, buy your groceries, send your messages, and more, all through a single interface.
No balancing apps and logins — just ask for what you want and let the device deliver. The R1’s on-screen interface will be a series of category-based cards, for music or transportation or video chats, and Lyu says the screen mostly exists so that you can verify the model’s output on your own.