This $199 AI companion is called the Rabbit R1 and it’s much more than a Tamagotchi on the juice

January 10, 2024. If you’re keeping an eye on the news from (under) NYC and that one particular Brooklyn synagogue, you’re probably having a thrill ride right now.

Let’s keep things nice and separated, and instead of “rabbi tunnels”, let’s talk about some “rabbit tunnels”.

Down the rabbit tunnel, there’s AI to be found

Despite the fact that every year some phones’ specs or features impress us, they don’t seem to blow our heads off. Many people say the phone industry has plateaued and a major breakthrough on either the hardware or software front is mandatory to provoke the broad audience’s attention and affection with the handsets. Much of the said audience is comfortably stuck with mid-rangers that do the job “just fine”... or they simply buy flagships they don't know anything about, apart from “it’s cool and expensive”.

So, the need for something new is real. Foldables, top-notch cameras, or AI: this is what phone makers have been obsessing lately about. Probably the last one is the most important of all, given the fact that Samsung is bragging 24/7 about the Galaxy S24’s alleged AI capabilities and even Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman had to roast Apple for lagging behind both the South Korean giant, as well as Google and the Pixel 8 series in that field.

A young dreamer by the name of Jesse Lyu goes a step further and also wants to give you the AI ticket to ride… minus the smartphone experience.

Enter the Rabbit R1

The Verge is telling the story of Jesse Lyu, who’s the CEO and founder of an AI startup called Rabbit. This company is behind the $199 standalone AI gadget called the R1.

You can call it a Tamagotchi on steroids, or a Nintendo on weight loss pills, but it’s much more: it boasts a 2.88-inch touchscreen, a rotating camera, a scroll wheel, and a push-to-talk-button on the side. With AI!

Inside, there’s a 2.3GHz MediaTek processor, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a battery that the makers say lasts “all day”.

What tricks can the Rabbit R1 do?

As the report has it, the real deal is with the R1’s software: it has its own operating system, called Rabbit OS. Instead of LLM (large language model – ChatGPT-like), the company says the AI capabilities derive from a “Large Action Model”.



So, the Rabbit R1 could potentially be used for many different things, like controlling your music, ordering you a car, buying your groceries, sending your messages, map researching, making reservations, and more, “all through a single interface” and giving it voice commands.

And, as CEO Jesse Lyu says, the Rabbit R1 is a “companion” computer, built with the idea of intuitive human-machine interaction at its core.

Let’s see what the future holds for this unique Rabbit!