Image: Rabbit Tech
It’s not technically a phone, but it does almost everything a phone can … and some things a phone can’t.
By Rick Richardson
Technology This Week
Rabbit is a startup that stunned the world in early January with its surprising AI hardware announcement. The Rabbit r1 is a device similar to a smartphone, but it runs a different AI experience compared to what you know from ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Claude and other chatbots.
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The Rabbit r1 will handle chats like ChatGPT, sure. However, its primary selling point is a different type of AI experience. The r1 features a unique Large Action Model (LAM) that lets it interact with apps for you.
You can tell the r1 to order an Uber, plan a trip or even order for you. It can learn to use apps and services instead of only answering questions and generating text or images.
That’s the kind of feature I’d expect from any product with advanced AI features in the future, iPhone and Android handsets included. But until then, the Rabbit r1 can help get stuff done faster. It was released on April 24 for $199.
Rabbit opened r1 preorders back in January, quickly selling out of the initial inventory. It had some 10,000 units ready for March 31 shipping, with everything exceeding that amount set to ship later. Also of note, the initial batch of the Rabbit r1 unit was reserved for U.S. buyers only.
More than two months later, Rabbit provided updates on the r1 release date schedule. It turns out that Rabbit sold over 100,000 r1 units so far. Orders are still available on its website at this link, with shipping promised in June.
