• Everyday AI
  • Posts
  • Do we really need AI-powered devices? 🤷

Do we really need AI-powered devices? 🤷

The truth about AI devices, Apple teases GenAI plans, ChatGPT Vision in action and more!

Author

Everyday AI
May 03, 2024

Outsmart The Future

Sup y’all 👋

Our grand prize winner for our 1 Year Anniversary show chose the Meta Ray Bans, so today, we’re giving away the (2) 90-minute GenAI consults to those who entered into our giveaway.

And those winners are….

and

(If that’s you, check your email! We just hit you up for instructions on how to get that 90-minute consult for free instead of $349!)

Thanks to you all who participated in our contest prize pool to celebrate our 1 year anniversary of Everyday AI. 

(Make sure to go check out the 1 year show if you haven’t already, tackling the elephant in the room about AI taking our jobs.) 

✌️

Today in Everyday AI
7 minute read

🎙 Daily Podcast Episode: Recent AI devices like the Ai pin and Rabbit R1 haven’t been so great. So that brings us to one question: do we need AI-powered devices? Give it a listen.

🕵️‍♂️ Fresh Finds: Ukraine unveils an AI spokesperson, AI engineers facing burnout and Meta’s $800M AI center. Read on for Fresh Finds.

🗞 Byte Sized Daily AI News: Apple teases GenAI plans, JPMorgan unveils AI tool and Microsoft bans U.S. police from using its GenAI for facial recognition. For that and more, read on for Byte Sized News.

🚀 AI In 5: Can ChatGPT + Vision really be the only “AI device” you need? We show you its capabilities in action. See it here

🧠 Learn & Leveraging AI: Do we really need AI-powered devices? We break down the bigger picture and how it impacts us all. Keep reading for that!

↩️ Don’t miss out: Did you miss our last newsletter? We talked about Sam Altman saying ChatGPT is ‘mildly embarrassing at best, AI business implementation, U.S. urges China & Russia to ban AI nuclear decisions and Microsoft and Axel Springer's partnership. Check it here!

AI-Powered Devices: Do we actually need them? 🤷

The much-hyped Humane Ai pin? Dragged through the mud.

The Rabbit R1 AI assistant? Accused of being a box running Android.

Are these devices just too early?

Or, do we really not need (or want) AI-powered devices following us everywhere? We'll weigh in with what you need to know.

Join the conversation and ask Jordan questions on AI-powered devices here.

Also on the pod today:

• Evaluation of specific AI devices📱
• Concerns and skepticism about AI devices 🤔
• Impact of big tech companies on AI devices 🏢

It’ll be worth your 35 minutes:

Listen on our site:

Click to listen

Subscribe and listen on your favorite podcast platform

Listen on:

Here’s our favorite AI finds from across the web:

New AI Tool Spotlight – Wizardshot creates step-by-step tutorials, Braintrust AIR is an AI recruiter and Prompto lets you interact with multiple LLMs in your browser.

Trending in AI – Ukraine has unveiled an AI-generated foreign ministry spokesperson.

Humans + AI Models — Kaggle and LMSYS, the organization that hosts the popular Chatbot Arena, announced a $100,000 prize for humans who can predict AI model behavior.

Future of Work – A new report shows that AI engineers are facing burnout as the AI demand grows.

Big Tech - Meta is building an $800M AI center in Alabama.

AI in Medical - NVIDIA Healthcare is integrating with AWS to help power healthcare foundational models.

Business of AI – Online marketplaces like eBay, Etsy, and more are looking to use AI to supercharge shopping.

1. Apple's Tim Cook Teases Groundbreaking Generative AI Plans 🍎

During Apple's recent earnings call, CEO Tim Cook hyped up the company's upcoming ventures into generative AI, emphasizing Apple's unique strengths in hardware, software, and privacy. Despite a slight dip in iPhone sales, Apple remains optimistic about the potential of generative AI to drive innovation. With competitors like Amazon and Google already making moves in the space, all eyes are on Apple's WWDC event in June for the big reveal.

2. JPMorgan Unveils 'IndexGPT' Tool Powered by AI 🏦

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has set the financial world abuzz by introducing 'IndexGPT,' a groundbreaking AI-powered tool designed to create thematic investment baskets based on emerging trends such as cloud computing, e-sports, and cybersecurity. This cutting-edge tool represents a significant leap forward in automated investment identification, signaling a shift toward a future characterized by rapid economic growth. 

3. Microsoft Bans U.S. Police from Using Its GenAI for Facial Recognition 👮

Microsoft has drawn a line in the sand by prohibiting U.S. police from utilizing generative AI for facial recognition through Azure OpenAI Service. This decision comes amidst concerns over potential issues like hallucinations and racial biases in law enforcement technology. While the ban applies strictly to the U.S., it excludes international use and facial recognition with stationary cameras in controlled environments.

4. China Leads in AI Research 🇨🇳

China emerges as the top producer of AI research, surpassing the US in a global race highlighted by a doubling of AI research output from 2017 to 2022. The focus on computer vision and natural language processing is evident, with significant growth in these areas. While Chinese institutions like the Chinese Academy of Sciences lead in sheer numbers, questions arise about the quality of research output.

5. Cybercheck Controversy: AI Crime Solver or Legal Headache? 🧑‍⚖️

Law enforcement's new AI tool, Cybercheck, created by Adam Mosher, is under fire for its opaque methodology and questioned accuracy in criminal cases. The tool, used in nearly 8000 cases across 40 states, relies on machine learning to gather open-source intelligence from the web to aid investigations into serious crimes. With defense lawyers demanding transparency and judges blocking its use in court, the debate over Cybercheck's role in the justice system intensifies.

ChatGPT + Vision = Do we really need other AI wearables and devices?

There’s been so much hype around the recent releases of AI-powered devices.

But it made us question one thing.

Is ChatGPT + Vision the only “AI gadget” you really need to navigate the world of AI?

We show you ChatGPT Vision in action.

Or see this related video:

🦾How You Can Leverage:

GenAI can do a bulk of the role for professionals in the communications space.

You can view that as a threat, or as an opportunity.

With Megan Thomas joining the show, we explored the latter. She laid out not only how we can leverage AI for daily communications tasks, but how it can actually make you more irreplaceable in your role.

Let’s get it.

1 – What’s the benefit? 🧑‍🎨️

How many people were in the room for the R&D of these projects? And we’re wondering if not enough people asked — why? 

Sure, some of these AI-powered devices seem kinda cool in theory. 

Push a button on a pendent, talk to a smart assistant. Kinda like Iron Man or Star Trek. 

Or, the ability for some smart computer thingy to tell us what something is. 

But, is that an actual benefit? 

Especially given our smartphones do all of this and don’t require us to lug around a whole separate device? 

For us, we kinda like the Meta Ray Bans, because most people already wear sunglasses. (And the Ray-Bans look pretty dope.) 

But wearing a little hockey puck looking thing on our shirt? Or clipping a medical device thingy on our collar? 

In the same way we were super unimpressed about the Apple Vision Pro, calling it the AI-powered device that hardly no one needs, we’re kinda feeling the same way about some of these AI-powered wearables. 

Try this:

Here’s the specs and links for the main devices we focused on: 

Humane AI Pin — $699 price and $24/mo subscription. A label pin with a camera, microphone and AI chip that connects to Humane’s LLM. 

Rabbit R1 — $199 price, no subscription required. A pocket-sized AI assistant that can complete tasks using "rabbits" instead of apps by connecting to an LLM. 

Meta Ray Bans — $299 price, no monthly subscription. Smart glasses with built-in camera and audio for capturing photos/videos and connection to Meta’s Llama LLM. 

Limitless Pendant — $99 price, no monthly subscription required, but $19/mo if you really wanna use it. A voice-controlled AI pendant that can answer questions, set reminders, and automate tasks

2 – Do these devices solve any problems? 🎯

Kinda? 

TBH, most of these devices just look like Venture Capital-backed, half-baked pieces of hardware looking for a problem to solve. 

Sorrynotsorry.

Because once the GPT-powered Saas craze started to die down a bit, some new category of AI-powered offerings without a moat had to rise up, right? 

And adults with a little too much money need toys to still feel like little kids. 

  • You: Cmon, Jordan! These are more than toys for geeky adults! They connect to large language models! With the push of a button!

  • Jordan: Like… the ChatGPT app? Or the Perplexity app? Or the Claude App? Or the Gemini app? 

  • You: Yeah, but it’s a dedicated device that can free you from your smartphone!

  • Jordan: Oh, so whenever you use this, you’re gonna ditch your smartphone? Leave your phone at home and spend the day with your blocky AI device fasted to your shirt?

    So this AI device can also make phone calls, check and respond to your texts, reply to your work emails, watch YouTube videos, respond to those Slack Messages, make the change on that presentation, and all of those other things your smart phone does? 

  • You: Well, no. But it’s a portable LLM! 

  • Jordan: Uggghhh. So you’ll get your large language work on while jogging the streets? 

    You get it. 

Again, this seems like a couple of hardware devices, wrapped up in an LLM, looking for some cash. 

Try this:

Don’t let us influence your take too much. Here’s some of the early reviews: 

Oh, and famed product reviewer Marques Brownlee called the Humane Pin the worst product he’s ever reviewed. 

Yikes.

3 – Will they even last? 🧍

Yeah, we all remember the Google Glass debacle from like a decade ago. 

A ton of hype. They (kinda) came and (pretty much) went. Without any staying power. 

Will this first wave of AI-powered devices and wearables face the same fate? 

We’d say so.

It seems like companies are trying to drum up demand or create a category just to sell something. 

The most successful tech hardware of the past few decades have provided unique value and utility for millions (and eventually billions) of people.  

Not the case with this wave. 

These products – much like the Apple Vision Pro – seem like shiny objects playing to a small crowd of a few dozen tech bros in Silicon Valley. 

Try this: 

So, will these wearables and AI blocks of tech have staying power? 

Probably not all of them. 

But here’s the thing – these new wave of AI-powered wearables feature a lot of problems: 

Annnnnddddd….

Stiff competition. 

Namely from famed Apple designer Jony Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are reportedly looking to raise $1 billion and working on a flagship AI hardware device. 

Throw in the fact that Apple also secured patents for some new smart AI wearables, and we’d say this newest flash of tech probably won’t last long. 

(Except maybe the Meta Ray-Bans) 

What do you think? 

Hit us with a reply with your thoughts, and we may feature some of our favorite hot takes in our next newsletter! 

⌚

Numbers to watch

$10,000

A bride and groom saved $10,000 by using AI to plan their wedding.

Now This …

We wanna know!

Vote to see live results

Which AI device would you like us to do a segment on?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Join the conversation

or to participate.