AI Is Coming to Gadgets. There’s One You May Actually Want.

Hello AI Gadgets, the tech world’s crazy new idea. The aim? To take your head out of your phone so you can live a more present life. Hey Meta, what kind of cat is this? The flowers I see are tulips, except that is enough Tulip knowledge. This is not a golden retriever meta. No, no, no, no. But first let’s talk about the promise of these devices. Generative AI and large language models have created a new way for us to interact with computers, so we should get new types of computers. Humane put it’s computer in a $699 pin. Rabbit put it’s in a $199 square. Meta added AI to it’s $299 Ray Ban camera glasses with all of them. The integrated AI assistants use cameras to see and microphones to hear, and then they try to assist you. Emphasis on try. I ran around with all of these devices and put them through a series of challenges. Luckily, I also took my smartphone challenge One vision. I don’t want to break you look and tell me what kind of cat this is. Yes, I needed kittens and puppies for this one. So I visited Baidui, a pet adoption center in New York City. Using the cameras and large language models, these devices can analyze what you’re looking at and answer questions. At least, that’s the promise. The Humane and Rabbit did know this was a cat, but AI Pin is unable to determine the specific breed of the cat. While I’m not able to identify the specific breed, it appears to be a domestic cat. Meta however. Hey Meta, can you tell me what I’m looking at? The cat appears to be a domestic shore there. Meta also had a guess about oh you are cute, my new best friend Maggie. It appears to be a black and white dog, possibly a great day in puppy. But here’s the biggest problem with the humane and the rabbit getting them to work when you need them, that’s great timing. If you are referring to AI Pin, it is a small, wearable personal computing device with a touch pad. Do you think that’s what I’m asking you right now? The humane requires you to learn a sequence of taps and commands, and the laser projector you navigate with on your hand looks futuristic. But why would you make a screen that you can see outdoors? Challenge two translation Humane and Rabbit. Both promised live translation in a number of languages, so I headed to Manhattan. Mandarin. Wajao Joanna. The rabbit almost immediately was out of the running. I’d ask it to translate something. Where is the bathroom? It would say, translating on the screen, and then four full minutes later, what’d it say? It says Where’s the bathroom? Where’s the bathroom? So it’s delayed. Imagine if you had to wait 5 minutes to not only go to the bathroom, but to ask where the bathroom is. The company said this problem has since been fixed. The Humane, on the other hand, did much better. Where is the bathroom? Oh, the toilet. The toilet is on the 2nd floor. Take the elevator from the side, then go straight and turn left. Very good. Really very good. But then we went down the street for lunch. I’m allergic to peanuts. Are there peanuts in the soup dumplings. This is Spanish. Spanish translate from English to Mandarin. Oh no, it’s stuck in Spanish. You know what was consistently reliable? The Samsung Galaxy S24’s new Live Translate feature metas. Glasses don’t do live audible translation, but they do visual translation. This appears to be the Chinese character for tree. To be fair, Meta says Mandarin isn’t supported. The Chinese character is Chong, which means insect or worm. Yes No. Finally, I just used Google Lens. Shrimp. Yes Yes Challenge Three General Assistance. Because these are powered by large language models, they can produce some pretty thorough answers to best care for two looks, it is recommended to fertilize them with bulk. They all take a bit too long to respond to questions, but metas responses were some of the strongest and fastest. Rabbit again was just a mess. Sorry there was an issue with the Uber service. To be fair, the car finally came. Play Taylor Swift new album. On it, I’ll get the music going for you. This is from 2006 and sadly, none of them can set a timer. I’m unable to set a timer. There was an error connecting to the server. Try again. I can’t help with that kind of request. What a good day for Siri. OK, so all of those challenges could have been accomplished quicker and better with an app on your smartphone. These two products feel like science projects, not finished products. In fact, over the last week both of these have gotten software updates addressing some of the issues I’ve had. But I really like the concept of a wearable gadget with advanced AI, and Meta’s glasses are the best bet right now for that. It’s not just because the other two gadgets are so unreliable. The glasses free you from your phone to take photos and video, but still connect via Bluetooth to the most important device in your life. And that’s the real promise here. Tech that allows us to interact more like humans and doesn’t make me always want to cry. This pin is madding.