I wonder what exact features this would provide that the mobile app cannot. I don’t wanna carry another device with me all the time

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thewebguyd 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

> I don’t wanna carry another device with me all the time

And that's why this (and any other stand alone "AI device") is doomed to fail.

We solved this problem already in 2007. "An iPod. A phone. An internet communicator. Are you getting it? These are not three separate devices."

The industry has been chasing that high ever since, failing to stop and consider that maybe the smartphone is effectively peak consumer tech as a delivery vehicle for various services.

OpenAI is just upset that they don't get to own the delivery vehicle, Google and Apple do.

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rocmcd 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

I find it ironic that between the money they have raised, the talent they have in-house, and the quasi-super intelligence they have at their disposal, you would think they could have just created their own brand of smartphone (or done something like One Plus / Nothing).

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sahila 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon have all tried to create their own smartphone since Android has been around. Why do you think OpenAI would succeed?

Even if they did make the new physical device, are you suggesting they create a new OS and ask developers to port their apps? It seems like a non-starter.

	▲	mox1 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Because if you believe all of the hype around AI, one of the top 5 AI companies should be able to use the AI to move the needle pretty significantly here. They have lots of money, resources and talent. The fact that the result is a hockey puck you carry around and talk to should tell you what you need to know about the revolutionary nature of AI. (Dont get me wrong, it is revolutionary, but more in an Augment our existing world than create a new world for us type way).

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MagicMoonlight 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

[dead]

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hightrix 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It is funny how often history repeats itself.

Facebook learned this same lesson when they were upset at not being able to control devices that were running their software.

OpenAI is going to learn that same lesson. No one wants a second device.

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smalltorch 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I think the only way this could work is if they sold me a box I could put at home, then access it on any of my existing devices as your own actual private instance. One device for the whole family or something.

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soundworlds 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I am not a fan of OpenAI, but I believe the long-view for many AI companies is that AI will replace the phone and all of its functions, essentially being voice activated, summarizing version.

Though this doesn't work in public settings, so I am also not totally sure what the long-view is..

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wongarsu 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The description makes me think that it's targeted at the "screenless" trend. Especially among young people there is a trend to cut down on smartphone usage. This device would fit right in with that: no screen, status display with LEDs and oldschool moving parts (presumably engineered to be cute or endearing). Something to carry around when you don't want to be distracted by the temptations on your phone screen

The irony of selling an AI assistant with that premise is not lost on me

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r0fl 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

That trend is a pipedream!

In the US roughly half of teens said they were online “almost constantly"

Just look around kids 8-20 are basically: Fortnite + Roblox + TikTok + YouTube + Netflix + phone all day

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wongarsu 2 days ago | parent [-]

People don't have to actually follow through with the trend to buy the product, only think they want to. Same as selling fitness products to people who end up doing very little fitness

	▲	LEDThereBeLight 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		OpenAI isn’t interested in useless products that sell for quick money. They want people to use it, they want to be embedded in the public’s mindshare.

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georgemcbay 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> The description makes me think that it's targeted at the "screenless" trend. Especially among young people there is a trend to cut down on smartphone usage.

Perhaps so, but I don't think it is going to do very well in this demographic.

You know what young people hate way more than overuse of screens? AI.

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creaturemachine 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

But you'll still need to pull out your phone to figure out what it's trying to tell you when it morphs into a pair of lips.

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vunderba 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> I don’t wanna carry another device with me all the time

Hopefully they've learned from the mistakes of the Humane AI pin and/or the Rabbit R1.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_r1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humane_Inc.

EDIT:

From the article "The idea is to make the device easy to carry around the home with one hand".

I don't understand the market target at all for this device. You want the equivalent of the Amazon Echo Dot but you also carry around your house?

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rufasterisco 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Following the same reasoning, smartwatches would have been a failure. They might be niche, but sales prove there is a market to explore/deepen.

Overall, openAI can sit on a mountain of money and bet mobile phones are the final form factor for human/AI interaction, as they have been for human/internet.

Or deploy some of that money and figure out whether that is true.

It’s also about creating an environment for those features to emerge, without being constrained by someone else platform, that could natively embed it at any time, and (probably more important) app marketplaces.

A signal for opportunity is also given by Apple’s inability to give their users Siri and Google sitting on transformers while OpenAI grabs the chatbot marketplace.

Also, anything they build does not cannibalize their other product lines.

There are lots of incentives for them to try out and figure out features on the fly, which arguably also happened with the IPhone (app store).

	▲	dmarcos 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		People were already wearing watches along smartphones. Smartwatches didn’t need a new user habit formation. You can definitely create new habits (like people wearing ear buds for hours a day) but need a strong thesis and cost-benefit analysis that is net positive when considering alternatives.

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singularity2001 19 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

in the US you may ask Siri about stuff in Europe it still takes about half a minute to activate GPT and talk to it. Investing $1000 in a new iPhone might solve the problem soon but at this point I'd rather try a new $300 device just out of spite

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bogzz 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

It will probably be pretty.

	▲	pfdietz 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		And puckish.