Off the rocky release of the Humane Ai Pin, many of us were hoping for the Rabbit R1 to launch with a full set of features. According to early reports, the Rabbit R1 is packing very little – so far – in a cute handheld package.
During CES at the beginning of the year, the Rabbit R1 somewhat stole the show, grabbing a lot of attention as a surprise announcement. In essence, it’s meant to be an AI companion in addition to a smartphone. Its screen is only 2.88 inches, and it isn’t meant to be the workhorse panel most phones come with. It is, however, meant to take audio requests and turn them into action with a special “Large Language Model” developed by Rabbit.
That model was boasted as a fantastic solution to getting things done through AI, as it takes requests and acts on them based on how you’d use your own phone. It does that by hosting certain services in the Rabbithole, an online portal that allows the R1 to act on your behalf in apps like Spotify or Uber.
As cool as that is – even among the blaring security concerns it raises – it turns out that there are only four services available to use on launch – Spotify, Uber, DoorDash, and Midjourney (via The Verge). To be fair, Rabbit didn’t advertise any services beyond these. The promo material consisted of examples where users ordered pizza and called and ride, and we bought in with ease.
On top of that, it also looks like some of the Rabbit R1’s other flagship features are hindered at this point in time. Specifically, the Humane Ai Pin and the R1 intersect – visual recognition. The R1 has a tiny camera that rotates 360 degrees around. Its purpose is to recognize whatever it’s pointed at and report back. At launch, it’s noted that the R1 can only see surroundings and simply tag what objects are in front of you. It doesn’t look like it can save photos in any capacity.
What the Rabbit R1 really boils down to, at this point in time, is being able to answer basic queries and seemingly order you a sandwich from DoorDash. Even the latter Rabbit R1 feature will require some training on the community’s part to get just right, as the LAM goes.
At launch, it does seem like the Rabbit R1 offers a nice interface and physical appearance – it looks pretty darn adorable. If Rabbit can sort a lot of the little details out and add more meat to the bone, the R1 can be a solid little AI companion. But it will likely take some time as the roadmap is long.
Rabbit R1 units are now starting to ship to those who purchased the device early on in the window. Those who buy the device now will have to wait until June to receive the R1.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
