Smart mobile devices have had AI-based virtual assistants for years, but none of these has a user experience that could be described as AI-centric or AI-first. San Francisco area start-up Rabbit is looking to offer a smart “pocket” device that puts AI first by making it the primary interface to apps, services, and information, and it appears to be one of the stars of CES 2024.
Coming in at roughly half the size of many smartphones, Rabbit’s R1 is a $199 device that has a 2.88-inch touchscreen with natural language AI capabilities that can be accessed via voice or keyboard. It also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and possesses a 4G card slot.
The difference maker, according to Rabbit founder and CEO Jesse Lyu, is the company’s development of a “large action model” embedded in its Rabbit operating system that streamlines how mobile device users interface with and use applications, and how they use their devices to interact with the outside world. Lyu claimed that it uses AI to get around the clunky process of scrolling through dozens of apps on a phone screen, and the time it takes to log in to various apps and services on devices with more "app-based" operating systems.
Not to be confused with a large language model, Lyu said in a CES presentation, “The Large Action Model, or LAM as we call it. It is a new foundational model that understands and executes human intentions on computers. With a large actual model, we fundamentally find a solution to the challenges that apps, APIs, or agents face. LAM can learn any interfaces from any software regardless of which platform they're running on. In short, a large language model understands what you say, but the large actual model gets things done. We use LAM to bring AI from words to action.”
The LAM can be leveraged for a range of uses–ChatGPT queries, search, food or rideshare ordering, interfacing with and controlling commonly used apps like Spotify.
The CES sales pitch worked, as Rabbit sold out of its initial batch of 10,000 R1 devices within hours of its debut. It is now accepting pre-orders.