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Rabbit: LLM-First Mobile Phone

rabbit.tech

31–40 of 547 posts

Re: Rabbit: LLM-First Mobile Phone

#31
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems unlikely given that both Apple and Google have been employing the world's top ML scientists for years, have unlimited budgets, have better access to customers than any startup (to find out what customers want), and ... need I go on? Yes, it's nice that "Rabbit" is exploring this area and being innovative, but unless their particular take on mobile phones catches the world unexpectedly by storm, nobody will…

Is OpenAI a counterexample here?

They got a huge infusion from Microsoft, so not really.

Re: Rabbit: LLM-First Mobile Phone

#32
I read the comments before I watched the video and I'm actually way more optimistic about this now than I was expecting to be.

Yes, google or apple will probably ship LLMs on their phones eventually and make an overall more compelling product than Rabbit _if_ you're only willing to have one device.

Considering the relatively low price (and assuming they actually deliver it in a timely fashion) I can see this being useful as a pocket assistant between now and whenever google et al eventually catch up, and potentially past then if rabbit keeps innovating.

Re: Rabbit: LLM-First Mobile Phone

#33
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the optimistic take for investors is maybe they make some interesting LLM-phone tech and get acquired?

That seems unlikely given that both Apple and Google have been employing the world's top ML scientists for years, have unlimited budgets, have better access to customers than any startup (to find out what customers want), and ... need I go on? Yes, it's nice that "Rabbit" is exploring this area and being innovative, but unless their particular take on mobile phones catches the world unexpectedly by storm, nobody will…

> That seems unlikely given that both Apple and Google have been employing the world's top ML scientists for years, have unlimited budgets, have better access to customers than any startup.

Both of those companies had it handed to them, like, literally got completely smoked by OpenAI, a company with a thousand employees +/- in San Francisco. The giants are incredibly vulnerable, just like the giants that Google and Apple disrupted such as IBM, Yahoo, AOL, etc.

Re: Rabbit: LLM-First Mobile Phone

#34
I see this as less of a competitor to a smartphone, and more of a competitor to a Light Phone [1]. Seems like it might help folks avoid doom-scrolling in a similar way, while providing a higher level of functionality.

[1] https://www.thelightphone.com/shop/products/light-phone-ii-b...

Re: Rabbit: LLM-First Mobile Phone

#35
I don't want to be mean, but...

- the keynote video isn't scrollable behind the giant "share" button - the text on the keynote page is incredibly difficult to read (small text + very low contrast) - the homepage is full of dizzying animations that don't tell me anything about what the "phone" is actually supposed to do - "How it works" is just a set of animated cards. Once you figure out they're clickable (hoverable?), they spin around to reveal... half-formed ad copy? I wanted to know how it worked.

I'm willing to believe this is a real product only because of the "research" page, but it feels more like an aspiring web designer's portfolio piece. The flashiness of it all makes it really difficult to figure out what anything actually is.

Re: Rabbit: LLM-First Mobile Phone

#36

I am almost never a hater on people trying ambitious things, but man this is one of the most "doomed to fail" things I've ever seen. You've got absolutely insane market saturation by two major players that have some of the most advanced AI teams on the planet. Almost nobody is going to buy an "LLM-first phone," they will just wait for Apple or Google to put an LLM into their existing phone.

It’s $199. At that price it could be a viable cool toy like product to have in addition to your normal smartphone.

I don't see it. Base model Pixel 7 can be found in multiple places for $250 right now, so you're not coming in much cheaper than that, but more importantly, I don't really see a whole lot of demand for a second phone even as a cool toy. This feels like the type of thing people would buy, play with for a week or two, and then it would end up in a drawer never to be used again.

Re: Rabbit: LLM-First Mobile Phone

#37

I see this as less of a competitor to a smartphone, and more of a competitor to a Light Phone [1]. Seems like it might help folks avoid doom-scrolling in a similar way, while providing a higher level of functionality. [1] https://www.thelightphone.com/shop/products/light-phone-ii-b...

I kind of would love this rabbit device running the light phone OS (with a camera app)

Re: Rabbit: LLM-First Mobile Phone

#38

I am almost never a hater on people trying ambitious things, but man this is one of the most "doomed to fail" things I've ever seen. You've got absolutely insane market saturation by two major players that have some of the most advanced AI teams on the planet. Almost nobody is going to buy an "LLM-first phone," they will just wait for Apple or Google to put an LLM into their existing phone.

"Doomed to fail," probably. I certainly never expected to see a product so unabashedly quixotic this side of a zero-interest-rate era. But man, what a crazy swing for the fences this is.

By my reckoning, this approach is probably ten years ahead of its time. I simply cannot imagine that the tech is there right now to make this nearly as seamless as it will need to be to actually supplant the UI paradigms we have today, and it's going to take billions invested by the duopoly to get to that point.

But I really do think this is at least a fuzzy picture of where we're headed. Your iPhone in 2034 won't look like this, but you'll likely be able to trace some things back to it. There are a lot of pieces missing that we barely even know are missing yet, but it's incredibly exciting to see a startup try to jumpstart a step change like this.

Re: Rabbit: LLM-First Mobile Phone

#40
post #26
post #23

That Teenage Engineering is collaborating on this makes this a very interesting device. But I would not call it a phone? A pocket assistant maybe?

Where did you see them mentioned? For sure makes it more real!

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231221415633/en/rab...
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