- Author, Zoe Kleinman
- Role, Technology editor
I’ve just spent the past few days with the latest gadget billed as being able to take on the smartphone: the Rabbit R1.
I wanted to see if I could imagine this portable, artificial intelligence (AI) digital assistant one day becoming what my phone is now – something I can’t live without.
You can see the thinking behind it: millions of people have played with AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.
Given that success with software, it seems the Next Big Thing for the tech giants is to do the same with hardware, and find ways to physically embed AI tools.
Microsoft is doing it with laptops, while Apple is rumoured to be following suit with the next iPhone.
But there are also people trying to come up with an entirely new category of gadget too – which is where the R1 comes in.
Rabbit says its new device is “an intuitive companion” that can “handle everyday digital tasks”.
A portable AI-driven assistant that…
