Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being integrated into numerous gadgets today, with the promise of making our lives more convenient. Unfortunately, this new wave of innovations seems to fall short of their grand promises, and oftentimes make us wonder, “Couldn’t this just have been an app?”
One such case includes Humane’s AI Pin, which received a hefty amount of investment and hype. Portrayed as the epitome of the post-smartphone era, it ended up being an undercooked device plagued with numerous usability and reliability issues. After scathing reviews and sluggish sales, the once promising start-up is now considering selling itself amidst a battle for survival.
Similarly, the Rabbit R1 entered the market with a bang at CES 2024. Despite boasting a low price and intelligent functionalities, it became evident that the device was nothing more than an inexpensive hardware housing for third-party models like chatGPT. Besides confronting serious privacy and security issues, the device often failed to work as promised, raising questions about its future versions.
Then, there is Brilliant Frame Glasses that vainly promised to accomplish where Google Glass fell. Despite incorporating generative AI, the product failed to deliver. The current version provides a monochrome text-oriented eyesight display and relies on a smartphone for all AI computations.
Adding to the growing list of insufficient AI devices is Friend. It symbolizes all that is unpersuasively Silicon Valley. This gadget acts as a pendant that can listen to conversations, process content via an app, and generate generic responses about the topic under discussion to motivate, rebuke, comment, or even offer an opinion. The device conjures images of a Black Mirror episode gadget.
Likewise, Plaud entertained us with two portable recorders capable of transcription and summarization through GPT 4o and Claude 3.5 Opus. Although there’s no doubting their effectiveness, they remind us of yet another gadget that offers little more than the average smartphone apps.
In the midst of these missteps, Terra stands as a possible exception. This pocket-sized device is designed to replace smartphones for navigation during walks. The idea is to leverage generative AI power and GooglePlaces APIs to guide users in a more organic and subtle way. Among all the devices listed, Terra is the only one with a weighty design philosophy and justification.
Finally, the Rayban Meta Glasses haven’t exactly been a failure, but their AI features still present many challenges in terms of precision, privacy, and practical applications. Despite these issues, privacy appears to be a minor concern for many younger users.
In conclusion, while we anticipate the next big breakthrough in tech, these AI-enabled devices are more often than not, disappointing and ineffective. It seems that these tech entrepreneurs need to revisit and reassess their strategies. Maybe what we need is not brand new, single-purpose devices, but intelligent, more capable smartphones loaded with AI and other functionalities. Only then can we truly advance in our quest for technological innovation and convenience. All these AI gadget fiascos tell us that sometimes, less is more, especially when more is not necessarily better. The age-old principle of quality over quantity has never rung truer.
