Let’s dig in to the issues with AI assistants. This time, the hardware: the new wave of AI assistant tech makes some assumptions about the future. One of the big ones is from the Humane AI pin, the pin that arguably kicked off this wave of physical gadget AI assistants. Their design suggests that enough people want out of the modern screen lifestyle to justify a device with no keyboard and a projection monitor. By projection monitor, I mean the device projects onto your hand or a surface in front of you.
There is no physical “screen”, only light and voice. While that works in a quiet, not-fully-lit environment, when conditions change, so does the effectiveness of your very expensive device. The projection is tough to see in daylight, and the size of your projection is reliant on the size and distance of your hand. You don’t type on it, either. If you want to send a text or email, you have to dictate it. You can certainly try to read your texts off of it (off of your hand, in 12 pt font, five words per row at a time), but having your pin read it aloud for you is much easier. However, that also comes with problems. You can’t use this thing without noise.
As one CNBC Television interviewer put it to the founder of Humane AI, Imran Chaudri, “Is the expectation that people are going to use this with headphones on, or no headphones on? Sometimes I’m in a meeting, and I’m sneaking under the desk to look at my email. I can’t say Hey, Siri, tell me my email because I don’t want the whole room to hear my email. So how does that work in this context?”
The initial answer given has to do with the AI sorting emails and messages for you by importance, an AI-powered tool which will allow you to respond to priority emails first. Clarifying, Chaudhri answers that the volume can be lowered, and that an LED display will allow you to look at text – the interviewer confirms this will cause the device to light up when he receives messages if he wants to actually look at them. So the AI would be able to talk to you, very quietly, and show you the text you’re receiving, but it cannot do either of these things as discreetly as a phone under the desk can, which is a downside.
The Rabbit device has a screen, and is cheaper, but runs into many of the same issues; while you can read off of a screen the size of an iPod’s screen, it’s not exactly easier than reading off a phone. However, it fixes issues with the gesture commands by including both an analog control wheel and a real touch screen, so even though it suffers many of the same problems with sound that the Humane pin does, it is at least slightly easier to work with when noise isn’t a problem.
Another significant sticking point is that these devices struggle to regulate their temperature – AI takes a lot of computing power, which generates heat, and the size of any of the devices on the market limits their ability to add a fan, a heat sink, some insulation, etc. One EndGadget reporter says the Humane AI pin got hot enough to burn her (or at least cause pain) a couple of times during her trial with it.
Given the hardware improves, and the price comes down, could these be worth it? It’s not going to replace the phone any time soon, but maybe they find a niche as a supplement. Both devices can play music and link with Bluetooth, at the very least.
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/humane-ai-pins-laser-display-083124742.html
www.theverge.com/2024/1/9/24030667/rabbit-r1-ai-action-model-price-release-date
https://www.androidcentral.com/phones/rabbit-r1-first-impressions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV9nYeccmoQ&ab_channel=CNBCTelevision (quote appears at 2:35)
