Wikipedia

Rabbit r1

The Rabbit r1 is an Android-powered, ChatGPT-based[2] personal assistant device developed by tech startup Rabbit Inc and co-designed by Teenage Engineering.[3][4] It is designed to perform various functions, including web searches and media control, using voice commands[5] and touch interaction, allowing AI to be used to provide services commonly associated with smartphones, such as ordering food delivery.[3][6][7]

Rabbit r1
DeveloperRabbit Inc
TypeAI personal assistant device
Release date9th January 2024
Operating systemRabbit OS, based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP)[1]
Websiterabbit.tech

Rabbit Inc was started by Jesse Lyu Cheng.[8][9]

Hardware

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  • Display: A 2.88-inch touchscreen for interactive user input.
  • Input: push-to-talk button to activate voice commands; scroll wheel; Gyroscope; Magnetometer; Accelerometer; GPS.
  • Camera: 8 MP single camera, with a resolution of 3264x2448, allowing for the connected external AI to use computer vision
  • Audio: Equipped with a speaker and dual microphones for audio interaction.
  • Connectivity: Supports Wi-Fi and cellular connections via a SIM card slot to access internet services.
  • Processor: Runs on a 2.3GHz MediaTek Helio P35 processor.[10]
  • Memory: Contains 4GB of RAM for operational tasks.
  • Storage: Offers 128GB of internal storage for data.
  • Ports: Utilizes a USB-C port for charging and data connections.[3][11][7][12][13]

Software

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The Rabbit r1 runs on Rabbit OS, based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), specifically version 13.[14] Lyu has claimed that Rabbit OS runs with a "very bespoke AOSP."[15]

The device employs a large action model (LAM)[16] designed to perform actions and assist with tasks like web searches, streaming music, and transportation services.[3][6] Perplexity.ai, an AI search engine, is one of the Large Language Models (LLM) used to respond to user queries and execute commands.[3][6] The personal assistant is also capable of various actions such as ordering a cab or playing music from Spotify.[7][3] This is through the "connections" system on the account management site, which the assistant calls "rabbits".[citation needed]

Rabbit issued 15 software updates within the first four months after releasing r1. On July 11, 2024, Rabbit launched the "beta rabbit" advanced search and conversation assistant to "give more thoughtful responses to complex questions that require multiple steps of research and deeper reasoning".[17]

Reception

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Jesse Lyu, CEO and founder, at Collision 2024 by Web Summit in Toronto

Funding

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Rabbit raised $20 million in funding from Khosla Ventures, Synergis Capital and Kakao Investment in October 2023.[18] The company announced an additional $10 million in funding in December 2023.[19]

Sales

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Following its announcement at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show, 130,000 units were sold.[20] On August 13, 2024, Rabbit announced that sales of r1 had expanded to the entire European Union (except Malta) and United Kingdom.[21] On August 21, 2024, sales of r1 expanded to Singapore.[citation needed]

Reviews

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The r1 was met with strong criticism immediately after Rabbit began shipping the device. Some reviews questioned what the device was able to do that a smartphone could not, while comparing it to the similar Humane Ai Pin. YouTuber Marques Brownlee called the device "barely reviewable".[22] Android Authority's Mishaal Rahman managed to install Rabbit r1's software on a Pixel 6a smartphone, after a tipster shared an APK file.[23] The Verge echoed the claims made by Rahman.[24] In response, Lyu published statements confirming its use of Android, but denying that the r1 is an Android app.[24] Mashable called its Vision features impressive, but said that "these praise-worthy features are overshadowed by buggy performance".[25] Ars Technica wrote a blog post claiming "the company is blocking access from bootleg APKs".[1] TechCrunch gave a slightly more positive review, calling the device a "fun peep at a possible future", but could not "advise anyone to buy one now."[26]

Shortly after the launch of r1, Rabbit began a weekly cadence of software updates to address much of the criticism from the early reviews, including "battery and GPS performance, time zone selection, and more".[27] Digital Trends said the Magic Camera feature "takes the most mundane, ordinary, and badly composed photos and makes something fun and eye-catching from them.[28] Mashable said the "beta rabbit" feature "makes Rabbit R1 more conversational and intelligent".[29]

Controversies

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GAMA project

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Rabbit Inc has garnered attention due to allegations surrounding its funding and the company's past projects. The company came under scrutiny when Stephen Findeisen, known as Coffeezilla on YouTube, published a video in May 2024, alleging that Rabbit Incorporation was "built on a scam". Rabbit Incorporation, initially named Cyber Manufacturing Co, rebranded just two months before launching the Rabbit R1. The company, under its former name, raised $6 million in November 2021 for a project called GAMA, described as a "Next Generation NFT Project." Jesse Lyu, the CEO of Rabbit Incorporation, referred to GAMA as a "fun little project."[30]

Coffeezilla, who investigates influencer scams, highlighted old Clubhouse recordings of Jesse Lyu discussing the GAMA project. In these recordings, Lyu emphasized the substantial funding behind GAMA and its potential to be a revolutionary, carbon-negative cryptocurrency. Coffeezilla questioned the whereabouts of the funds raised for GAMA, estimating that approximately $1 million in refunds to investors remained unresolved. He suggested that the rebranding to Rabbit Incorporation and the shift to developing the Rabbit R1 were attempts to divert from the GAMA project's issues.

In response to Coffeezilla's inquiries, Rabbit Incorporation stated that the $6 million raised was indeed used for the GAMA project. The company said that NFTs cannot be refunded unless the owner agrees to "burn" them on the blockchain. Rabbit Incorporation also said that the GAMA project was open-sourced and returned to the community, aligning with community feedback. They also mentioned that efforts to buy back NFTs were made to counteract malicious trading and maintain market stability.[25]

Security

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In June 2024, Engadget reported that the Rabbitude team, a community reverse engineering project, had gained access to the r1's codebase revealing that r1's software contained several hardcoded API keys in its code for ElevenLabs, Microsoft Azure, Yelp, and Google Maps,[31] potentially allowing unauthorized access to r1 responses, including those containing the users' personal information.[32] For a short time, Rabbit immediately began revoking and rotating those secrets and confirmed that the code was leaked by an employee who had "been terminated and remains under investigation".[33]

In July 2024, the company revealed that all user chats and device pairing data were logged on the r1 with no ability to delete them. This meant that lost or stolen devices could be used to extract user data. The company stated that it addressed the issue by introducing a factory reset option and limited the data stored on the r1, as well as preventing paired devices from reading data.[34]

References

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  1. ^ a b Amadeo, Ron (2024-05-01). "Rabbit R1 AI box revealed to just be an Android app". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2024-05-05.
  2. ^ Zeff, Maxwell (2024-05-03). "The Rabbit R1 broke and a ChatGPT outage might be to blame". Quartz. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "The rabbit r1 will use Perplexity AI's tech to answer your queries". Yahoo Finance. 2024-01-19. Retrieved 2024-01-19.
  4. ^ Townsend, Chance (2024-01-13). "What is the Rabbit R1 AI Assistant and why is everyone going crazy for it?". Mashable. Retrieved 2024-01-19.
  5. ^ "rabbit - What features does rabbit r1 support?". www.rabbit.tech. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
  6. ^ a b c "The Rabbit R1 Seems Cool, But What The Hell Is It?". Gizmodo. 2024-01-19. Retrieved 2024-01-19.
  7. ^ a b c "Say Hello to Rabbit R1: A Tiny Orange Box That Trades Phone Apps for AI". CNET. Retrieved 2024-01-19.
  8. ^ "How design drove $10M in preorders for Rabbit R1 AI hardware". Fast Company. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  9. ^ "Chinese entrepreneur's AI-powered gadget Rabbit becomes surprise hit". South China Morning Post. 2024-01-22. Retrieved 2024-05-25.
  10. ^ "Rabbit R1 puts an AI-powered personal assistant in your pocket". New Atlas. 2024-01-10. Retrieved 2024-01-19.
  11. ^ Chokkattu, Julian. "Rabbit's Little Walkie-Talkie Learns Tasks That Stump Siri and Alexa". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2024-01-19.
  12. ^ Picaro, Elyse Betters (2024-01-10). "What is Rabbit R1, is it powered by AI, and how exactly does it work?". Pocket-lint. Retrieved 2024-01-19.
  13. ^ "rabbit — home". www.rabbit.tech. Retrieved 2024-01-25.
  14. ^ Brown, C. Scott (1 May 2024). "The Rabbit R1 has Android 13 under the hood". Android Authority. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
  15. ^ Moon, Mariella (1 May 2024). "Rabbit denies claims that its R1 virtual assistant is a glorified Android app". Engadget. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  16. ^ "Toward Actionable Generative AI". Salesforce AI. 2023-06-27. Retrieved 2024-01-20.
  17. ^ "rabbitOS release notes". rabbit community // break free. 2024-05-01. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  18. ^ Wiggers, Kyle (2023-10-04). "Rabbit is building an AI model that understands how software works". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  19. ^ "Consumer AI startup Rabbit raises $10M from Khosla Ventures". SiliconANGLE. 2023-12-21. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  20. ^ Koetsier, John. "Rabbit Sells 130,000 R1 Units, Says Early Bugs Mostly Fixed". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  21. ^ "rabbit - rabbit r1, the consumer AI-native pocket companion, expands availability across the UK and European Union". www.rabbit.tech. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  22. ^ Brownlee, Marques (29 April 2024). "Rabbit R1: Barely Reviewable". YouTube. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  23. ^ "Rabbit R1, a thing that should just be an app, actually is just an Android app (Updated)". Android Authority. 1 May 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
  24. ^ a b Johnson, Allison (30 April 2024). "Turns out the Rabbit R1 was just an Android app all along". The Verge. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  25. ^ a b "abbit R1 review: I can't believe this bunny took my money". mashable.com. 9 August 2024. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
  26. ^ Coldewey, Devin (5 May 2024). "The Rabbit r1 shipped half-baked, but that's kind of the point". TechCrunch. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  27. ^ "Rabbit's first R1 software update fixed my biggest problem with the AI gadget". ZDNET. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  28. ^ "The worst gadget of 2024 has a killer camera feature". Digital Trends. 2024-07-20. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  29. ^ Gedeon, Kimberly (2024-08-23). "I wiped the dust off my Rabbit R1: 5 new things it can do since I last used it". Mashable. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
  30. ^ Atkinson, Sophie (2024-05-22). "YouTuber Coffeezilla destroys Rabbit R1 AI company in latest investigation". ReadWrite. Retrieved 2024-06-23.
  31. ^ "rabbit data breach: all r1 responses ever given can be downloaded". Rabbitude. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  32. ^ Moon, Mariella (26 June 2024). "Rabbit R1 security issue allegedly leaves sensitive user data accessible to anybody". Engadget. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  33. ^ "rabbit". www.rabbit.tech. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
  34. ^ Beaty, Artie. "Rabbit r1's AI assistant has secretly been storing user chats that can't be deleted". ZDNET. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
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