alt Hacker NewsOpenAI's new device will be hockey puck-sized and cost over $300
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It's going to be a phone, a screenless phone. Which is fine I guess, but only the obnoxious people that watch youtube on speaker with everyone giving them a death stare are going to use this. Maybe that's a bit too harsh, it will definately have a bluetooth connection for earbuds, so it might not be so grating. If they roll the data into the ChatGPT subscription, it will probably pick up a decent # of users. I can't imagine having a main device only use a voice interface though. Skimming an email visually is way more efficient than having an LLM summarize it.
Isn't this a plateaued market?
Amazon, Google, and Apple are already entrenched in the space. It's not like any of them have toxic brands like Oracle where everyone is dying to free themselves. Most people are happy with their products.
This seems like a tough move...
A device thats worse than the phone you already have, which is dead the second you stop paying your monthly OpenAI sub, and is useless if you decide you prefer other LLM provider. Where do we sign up?
Voice is almost always the worst, most frustrating interface.
Privacy nightmare + worse UX than a phone or sitting at your desk? Dead on arrival. Not a fan of Alexa but at least it can change what you're currently viewing on your Fire stick.
This thing is dead on arrival. The space is already crowded and no one needs another device listening in your house. Already plenty to choose from.
Why do I need to agree to arbitration and waive class action lawsuits to read an article?
This seems like a more expensive version of the rabbit or friend ai pins. What is going to differentiate this above any of (1) my phone that can use any AI provider and I can already carry around the home, (2) a set of smart speakers that can talk to an AI provider like google home/homepod/alexa, or (3) my computer?
Assuming instead of being another phone or voice assistant: It might make sense as a local AI server/proxy expanding to home assistant/TV. If they could claim to need to have device id's to avoid their models being scraped, they could force users to use their device proxy and avoid middlemen (likely by making it cheaper than direct access), and likely save a lot of server time by doing some processing locally on client's dime. Then they could start to play the device-id game with 2-factor authentication, etc. and their stock would track their install base like Comcast STB's.
This feels like the obvious future. Everybody doom scrolls on their phones too much, but we can’t get rid of them because of the convenience of the productive things we can do when we need to.
So if there was a way to enable the productivity (or even multiply it, let’s be real) without the doomscrolling, a lot of people would go for that.
Not to mention the endless fiddling we’ve had to resort to with phones. We’ve gotten used to it, but apps for everything is such a cognitive burden on people. A screen-less AI assistant is the perfect solution for this. I can’t wait.
Maybe based off the proprietary Apple expertise that led to the hockey puck mouse.
The device is presumably listening and recording everything and you can bet your last dollar there is fine print in the TOS that says Altman actually owns everything you say near the device and can use it for whatever he wants.
Oh, you thought you bought the device! Silly peasant! you just have the privilege of paying me to rent the device from me. Remember you will own nothing and will be happy.
Given the almost universal negative press about Altman, I wonder how many people would actually want a device from Sam 'let me scan your eyeballs for make believe money' Altman in their home.
A real life companion cube, even with the same corporate juggernaut flavor.
So its a competitor to Homepod and Alexa, but more capable, possibly through Computer Use among other agentic workflows people have today.
If Johny Ives delivers a hockey puck then he is diminished in my eyes.
Of all the things you could breath AI life into, what could be more boring, bland and already done than the Alexa hockey puck.
I feel like there will be a minimal UI/no screen but it will have 9 far field microphones. 2-3 cameras , an iris scanner, GPS, and lidar. This is because it is a data collection device for use in OpenAI's future models, more than it is a an assistant.
I hope it has little arms that gesticulate while it talks, like Stan from the Monkey Island games. Maybe it could have a Trump mode as well.
Related:
Apple sues OpenAI, accuses ex-employees of stealing trade secrets
“ No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame."
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