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Generative AI Doesn’t Make Hardware Less Hard

Wearable AI gadgets from Rabbit and Humane were panned by reviewers, including at WIRED. Their face-plants show that it’s still tough to compete with big tech in the age of ChatGPT.

Popular YouTuber Marques Brownlee complimented the device’s hardware design but still called it “The Worst Product I’ve Ever Reviewed … For Now.” The company has since massaged the message that it’s meant to replace your phone. Limitless AI, previously called Rewind, recently revealed a clip-on pendant described as “a memory assistant that transcribes audio recordings.” A pair of intelligent ear discs from Iyo, spun out of Alphabet’s moonshot lab X, is supposed to be a “therapist, coach and tutor, all controlled through voice” when it launches late this year. But even an AI hardware startup that develops a problem-solving and actually working product still has to compete with big companies that largely dictate consumers’ relationship with tech—while also convincing users to embrace new modes of interaction.

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