The "AI era iPhones" have fallen hard this week

From Humane Ai Pin to Rabbit r1, the highly anticipated AI hardware pioneers have generally failed to deliver satisfactory results. The once booming technology trend has now cooled down, reflecting significant real-world challenges in the application of artificial intelligence technology to wearable hardware.

Take the Ai Pin, priced as high as $699, for example. Renowned tech reviewer Marques Brownlee harshly criticized it as "the worst product ever reviewed."

Previously, the AI hardware Rabbit r1, which gained sudden fame at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, also faced doubts due to allegations of fraud and exaggeration of AI capabilities by its founder.

The startup company Rewind, focusing on AI recording devices, also experienced a dramatic turn of events. Rewind, claiming to be a "life search engine" that can continuously record sounds in the wearer's environment for easy retrieval, was believed by its founder to give people an unforgettable memory, akin to a superpower. After the last round of financing, the company was valued at $3.5 billion.

However, a year later, Rewind announced a rebranding to "Limitless" and a 180-degree shift in product direction towards enterprise applications. This shift indicates a significant gap between its initial ambition of "empowering humans with superpowers" and the existing reality.

Overall, the journey of AI hardware has been somewhat rocky, with a significant gap still existing between current artificial intelligence technology and public expectations.

The fundamental constraint lies in the fact that the computational resources required for large-scale language models to run are too massive, making it difficult for these devices to achieve offline operation on the device side. This means that most AI hardware requires network connectivity for support, resulting in often slow responses. Additionally, issues such as privacy security, battery life, and design flaws greatly impact the user experience of these devices.

Furthermore, unlike the flexible monthly subscription or pay-as-you-go models adopted by AI software agents, most AI hardware developers currently use a one-time prepaid hardware payment model. Once chip and LLM costs fluctuate, pricing adjustments will be difficult to make in a timely manner. Even if manufacturers want to adjust, consumers may not necessarily agree.

However, looking ahead, there is still significant room for development in artificial intelligence wearable devices. Currently, the field is dominated by small startups, with tech giants yet to make a move. The secret development of new AI hardware by former Apple Chief Designer Jony Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is particularly anticipated, signaling that the spring of AI hardware is not far away