WEBVTT - AI at CES 2024 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:12.360 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:15.880 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:19.400 I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and how the 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:25.640 tech are you? So? Longtime no podcast y'all. The last 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:29.800 time I actually recorded a new episode, it was about 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:33.320 CT scanning machines, and I talked about how I had 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:37.080 just had my first CT scan. That was on December 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:41.199 thirtieth of twenty twenty three when that happened, and it 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:44.600 was all part of a medical emergency I experienced over 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:47.600 that last weekend of twenty twenty three. But guess what, 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:52.120 The very same day that I was recording that episode, 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:54.760 I ended up having another emergency and I had to 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:57.880 go right back to the hospital. My blood pressure had 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:00.240 spiked again. It got to the point where I was 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:04.920 completely incoherent, more so than usual. You know, I realize 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:09.320 my coherence is a spectrum. Well this was off of it, 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:14.840 and I honestly only remember the second half of what 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:19.400 happened at the hospital once I was moved into the 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:23.680 Intensive care Unit or ICU. Before that, apparently I spent 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:25.880 several hours in the emergency room, but I have no 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:29.320 memory of it. I was told I even received a 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:32.319 lumbar puncture, which is I understand it. Those are pretty painful, 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:37.400 but none of that is in my mind. But a 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:40.880 group of doctors and nurses took very good care of me, 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:45.559 both in the er and the ICU. And as I 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:51.720 am recording this now, I'm just back from getting from 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:54.080 the hospital. I had to go in for a surgical 0:01:54.120 --> 0:02:00.280 procedure that is connected to all the emergency stuff. The 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:05.960 surgery went pretty well. The recovery has been rough, but 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:09.639 hopefully this will get me toward being on the right track. 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:12.880 It has been a heck of a way to start 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:16.799 off twenty twenty four. And as I mentioned in that 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:20.880 last new episode from Me, I am scaling back on 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:23.440 the number of shows that I do per week. One 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:29.840 contributing factor to the blood pressure issue is stress, and 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:33.400 we figured that reducing my stress should be a little 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:36.120 bit helpful. Now, that's just one part of what I'm 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:38.880 doing to get better. It's not like cutting back is 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:42.000 going to magically make me healthy. I have to do 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:44.480 a lot of other stuff. I'm on medication. I've got 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:47.560 a new approach to my diet and exercise, which is 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:51.080 well overdue. So it's just one piece of a bigger 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:55.680 puzzle anyway. Enough of all that. One of the many 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:59.160 things that I missed out on while I was in 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:04.040 the hospital was CES, which sometimes is also referred to 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:07.560 as the Consumer Electronics Show, although I think now they 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:11.280 just prefer to have it called CES. And in case 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:15.760 you're not familiar with this event, CES is a huge 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:20.240 trade industry conference in the United States in which companies 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:24.040 come together in Las Vegas, Nevada, every January to focus 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:27.560 on all things in the consumer electronics space and beyond. 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:31.280 If we're being honest, consumer electronics is really just one 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:33.240 part of it, which might be why they prefer to 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:36.760 call it just CES these days. It's at CES where 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:40.800 manufacturers and retailers will show off products intended to launch 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:45.000 within the next year or so. Sometimes they just show 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:47.600 off things like prototypes that are never going to see 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:50.360 the light of day, but might show off some features 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:52.360 that could find their way into products in the future. 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:55.280 Various members of the media attend and an effort to 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:58.280 get really cool stories. And you know, you've got other 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:01.160 industry professionals who go for all sorts of reasons, you know, 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:04.800 analysts and such. Most of them are really looking for 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:07.560 ways to find free food. At least in my experience, 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:10.360 that's kind of what the main priority seems to be. 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:15.840 And every year at CEES, trends emerge. Sometimes these trends 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:20.360 will establish themselves and eventually become a pillar in technology. 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:24.400 Like think about flat screen televisions. I mean, that's the 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:28.920 common form factor now, but once upon a time it wasn't, 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:33.080 and when those started to pop up, they eventually did 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:37.599 become the standard. Or things like Bluetooth connectivity and smart 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:41.760 home technology those fall into these categories too. Now. Other times, 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:44.960 various industries will push really hard to get a technology 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:48.560 kind of established in order to make it a trend, 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:51.240 and it ends up going nowhere. So the one I 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:55.240 always cite is three D television. When I first started 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:58.359 going to CES, which is back in the mid two thousands, 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:01.480 all the major companies in television space were gung ho 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:04.840 on three D televisions. There was a ton of support 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:09.479 behind three DTV within the film and TV industries, you know, 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:12.960 because three D formats would be a lot harder for 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:16.599 people to pirate than your typical visual media. So the 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:20.080 studios were really gung ho on three D TV as 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:22.520 well because they were like, well, if this means people 0:05:22.560 --> 0:05:25.080 can't just steal our stuff and they have to buy 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:27.840 it from us, then that means more money. So let's 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:30.760 definitely make three D television a thing. I mean, what 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:33.240 better way to crack down on those pesty pirates than 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:35.360 to convince them that they all have to watch the 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:38.240 stuff in three D. And you know a lot of 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:40.359 pirates can't even watch stuff in three D because they 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:42.440 got eye patches, which means they have a lack of 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:46.760 death perception. That's a parallax joke. Anyway, the whole gambit 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:50.320 for three D television didn't work out. Consumers rejected three DTV. 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:52.440 Most folks decided they didn't want to have to wear 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:55.479 glasses just to watch television in their homes, or that 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:59.159 having yet another component that could go missing was a 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:01.160 real hassle. Like if you've ever been one of those 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:03.600 folks who's like, where the heck did the remote control go, 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:07.800 imagine doing that with glasses as well. Or they were 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:10.560 arguing that there just wasn't enough compelling material that was 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:13.760 in three D to justify the investment of purchasing one 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:17.839 of these televisions. So after a couple of valiant years 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:20.400 of trying to make three D happen. It followed in 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:25.080 the footsteps of Fetch and didn't happen. This year was 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:28.000 no exception. There were other trends that came out this year. 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:31.040 A few different ones popped up, like transparent O led 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:34.200 television displays. There were a few of those, and I'll 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:36.919 probably do an episode talking about that in the future. 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:41.600 But undeniably, one type of tech really dominated conversation at 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:44.960 the show floor this year, and that was artificial intelligence. 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:47.559 And we all know that AI is a big deal. 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:52.760 Companies like Microsoft and Google and Amazon and Apple are 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:57.200 all struggling to find ways to incorporate AI into their 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:00.240 business models in a way that benefits them, and that 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:02.919 might also mean that these companies will make cuts to 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:05.800 actual human staff in the process if they find that 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:08.440 the AI can take on some of the load that 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:11.920 people would normally carry. And if you read up on 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:16.160 any business conference, any conference that has happened in the 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:18.560 last year and a half, you're going to see a 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:21.680 lot of discussion will be devoted to AI and how 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:25.120 it's going to change everything. And often at these exact 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:28.320 same conferences, at these exact same speeches, you're going to 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:32.120 find hardly any detail as to how we're going to 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:35.520 get there or what strategies companies should employ well forging 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:38.680 the path, it just becomes like this will change everything. 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:43.560 How it becomes like the underpants gnomes in South Park. 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:45.160 You just have a bunch of question marks and then 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:49.040 at the end it says profit. So essentially, everyone knows 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:52.280 that AI is powerful and it's important, but we don't 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:56.559 have wide agreement on how it should be developed or deployed. Also, 0:07:56.880 --> 0:07:58.920 it's not like this was the first time that AI 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:02.600 was part of the conversation and at CES. In recent years, 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:05.720 lots of companies have leaned on AI for all sorts 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:11.280 of things, from voice assistance to image recognition to robot navigation. 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:14.480 If I'm being honest, I would say the AI on 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:18.200 display this year more often seem to lean on the 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:23.160 large language model and generative AI versions of artificial intelligence, 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:24.920 the kind of stuff that we've been seeing so much 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:28.240 about from companies like open AI and Google. And I 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:31.400 get it. They're very flashy and they are impressive when 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:36.160 they're working properly, but it gives a very narrow view 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:39.640 of what artificial intelligence is, and AI is so much 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:44.160 more than just large language models and generative AI. But 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:48.760 unfortunately that's harder to sell. So it gets easier if 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:52.240 you just kind of reduce it all to one form 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.840 and say, like, this is what AI is. I don't 0:08:55.880 --> 0:08:59.720 think that's very wise because it's misleading, but you know, 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:03.080 I'm one voice in a big crowd. Now, there were 0:09:03.120 --> 0:09:05.920 a couple of major approaches that I saw while reading 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:09.840 up on how various companies were positioning AI in their 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:14.400 pitches to the media over at CEES. The big companies, 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:18.480 generally speaking, were actually a little less bullish. You know. 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:22.640 They didn't position AI as being a definitive feature in 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:27.000 their technologies, that did not seem to be the big thing. 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:29.080 Like it wasn't like a big flashing knee on sign 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:31.559 saying this has AI in it. So in their products, 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:35.000 AI was often a component that they might mention as 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:39.959 contributing to the functionality, but it wasn't positioned as being 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:43.120 the main event. Now, some smaller companies went in the 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:47.160 opposite direction. They developed products that put artificial intelligence front 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:51.040 and center, like this is AI. And we're still seeing 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:53.679 some examples of companies that are shoving AI into their 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:57.160 marketing message, even if it seems like they still don't 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:00.679 quite have a handle on how AI adds value or functionality, 0:10:00.800 --> 0:10:04.560 or in some cases, I'm not entirely convinced that AI 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:07.480 is actually part of the whole thing in the first place. 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:10.200 Sometimes it just seems like we need to put AI 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:14.080 in there because that's a buzzword that if we don't 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:15.520 put it in there, it's going to seem like we're 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:18.480 falling behind. But I would argue that, at least in 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:21.320 some of the cases I was looking at, AI really 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:24.720 was a grandiose way of saying whatever it was the 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:28.040 product was supposed to do. So let's get started. Let's 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:30.160 talk about an implementation that I actually think is a 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:34.040 pretty good idea, and it's BMW's use of a technique 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:39.520 called retrieval augmented generation. So BMW has a voice assistant 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:43.160 that you can get in in certain BMW vehicles, and 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:47.080 it uses generative AI to respond to your requests. But 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:50.120 this voice assistant can't just chat about anything at all. 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:54.320 It's it's not grant access to a limitless selection of topics, 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:56.439 So you can't just be like on a long road 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:59.680 trip and you're like, let's start talking about Sartra, or 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:03.240 can we have a deep discussion about Lord of the Rings. 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.480 It can't do that. Instead, this voice assistant can really 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:11.439 only provide information about the vehicle itself. So this restriction 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:16.440 means that the voice assistant isn't prone to hallucinations or confabulations. 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:20.360 So that's the tendency for generative AI to just plane 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:23.960 make stuff up on occasion. Right, Sometimes AI, in the 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:27.400 lack of information, will make something up and it sounds 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:31.960 like it's reliable, but it turns out it's completely false. 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:36.199 This is why AI critics warn that without strong guidelines, 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:39.760 AI could manufacture and distribute misinformation in such a way 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:43.960 that the misinformation seems like it's reliable and it's not malicious. 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.439 It's not that the AI is trying to mislead. It's 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:48.800 just trying to answer a question and doesn't have the answer, 0:11:48.840 --> 0:11:53.120 and like some other people I know, it's too scared 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.280 to say I don't know the answer to that question. 0:11:55.800 --> 0:12:00.720 So BMW built a barrier around their voice assistance knowledge 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:04.040 base to prevent this from happening. They said, well, it's 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:07.880 only going to be restricted to matters that involve the 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:12.000 vehicle itself. So the assistant draws upon the power of 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:17.520 Amazon's Alexa large language model, and it can interpret what 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:21.120 you mean when you ask questions. So that way, even 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:23.240 if you are not a car person and you don't 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:26.400 really know how to frame a question properly, like you 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:29.800 don't know what you're asking about, you're just trying to 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:33.079 find an answer to something you don't know the answer to, well, 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:35.920 this assistant can still try to help you get to 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:38.760 where you need to go, like what information do you 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:41.640 need to know? It can actually ask follow up questions 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:43.640 to you in order to get a better understanding of 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:46.400 what it is you're asking about, So like if you 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:48.719 don't know what it is you don't know, it can 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:51.160 at least ask follow up questions to try and narrow 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:55.319 down what the matter is. And then it can simplify explanations. 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:57.560 If you find something too technical to follow, you could say, 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:01.640 can you explain that to me in in plain English? 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:05.520 And it can reduce the complexity and do it now. 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:08.240 The beauty of this is that the voice assistant becomes 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:11.880 sort of an interactive owner's manual that's capable of rephrasing 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:14.960 passages if they just don't make sense to you, which 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:18.240 is great if you've ever flipped through a car owner 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:22.079 manual and encountered stuf where you're like, this doesn't seem 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:24.440 like a human being wrote this. I don't understand what 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:26.920 they're actually getting at. Well, imagine that it would be 0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:29.800 able to rephrase it so that it could convey that 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:32.960 meaning to you like that to me is incredibly valuable. 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:36.760 So for example, if your vehicle has multiple drive modes, right, 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:39.880 and you have no clue which drive mode should be 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:43.160 used in any given situation, the assistant can help. You 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:46.040 could ask it and you might find out that if 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:48.800 you were to switch to a different driving mode, you're 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:51.400 going to get way better performance on the roads that 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:54.240 you're currently driving on and your drive is going to 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:57.640 be far more pleasant. Or maybe that by making a 0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:01.120 few other changes you can dramatically decrease the amount of 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:04.640 fuel consumption you're going through and save some money. I 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:08.720 think that's a pretty neat idea. Now, I should say 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:11.120 that the description I read about this tool was done 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:15.000 as part of a non interactive demonstration. So the reporter 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:18.040 whose report I read is Tim Stevens. He wrote a 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:20.800 piece for Ours Technica, and he was not allowed to 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:23.920 ask any questions of the voice assistant himself, so he 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:25.880 could not interact with it. Instead he had to just 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:31.640 witness a kind of a performance almost so BMW representatives 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:34.240 ran the whole demo. And it's hard to say for 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:36.440 you know how far along this product is, or how 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:38.720 reliable it is, or whether or not you could prompt 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:41.920 it to make a mistake, because often that becomes a 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:45.520 thing where people will try to get AI things to 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:47.720 mess up to see if, in fact it's possible, because 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:51.000 it's better to find out through testing than to find 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:53.720 out through actual use. But I think this is an 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:56.680 AI implementation that really makes sense, and I could easily 0:14:56.680 --> 0:15:00.280 see other companies in other industries making similar use of 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:04.000 this technology to make it easier to navigate increasingly complex systems, 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:06.920 not just vehicles, but all sorts of stuff like I 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:10.640 can see businesses that are incorporating generative AI to do 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:14.000 it in this kind of way where they are effectively 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:18.400 geo fencing the AI so that it's only focused on 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:20.840 the things that are pertinent to the business. That just 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:23.320 makes sense to me. Okay, we're going to take a 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:25.040 quick break. When we come back, I'm going to talk 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:38.440 a lot more about AI at CEES twenty twenty four. Okay, 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:41.640 we're back. So we talked about BMW's approach, which I 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:43.720 thought was really cool. I don't know if the tool 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:46.960 itself is cool. I just think the strategy makes sense. 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:53.400 But let's contrast BMW's rather focused application with a handheld 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:58.000 device that is completely dependent upon AI and large language 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:02.800 models or large models, I probably should say, and that 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:06.480 is the Rabbit r one. So this gadget got a 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:09.720 ton of attention at CEES, at least from the media 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:13.160 as I understand it, it did not really go viral 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:16.000 over on Twitter. I'm not on Twitter anymore, so I 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:18.720 just have to take other people's word for it. But 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:22.520 like whenever I went to any outlet, if I were 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:27.520 looking at Wired or the Verge or Ours, Tetnica or anything, 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:30.600 there were articles seen at the articles about this thing, 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:33.640 the Rabbit are one. This kind of happens at the 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:37.760 show occasionally, right if you go to CEES, sometimes a 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:42.320 particular thing will stand out, and it's usually something that's 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:45.840 not from a big company. It's usually something that's kind 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:48.840 of a surprise, and it often can be a small thing, 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:52.560 but it just captures everyone's attention and then it generates 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:56.960 tons of articles. So like in past years, there was 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:00.320 a vibrating fork which was a real thing. It was 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:03.240 a fork that had a little haptic motor inside of it, 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:06.320 and if it detected that you were eating too quickly, 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:08.960 it would vibrate so that the food would fall off 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:11.919 your fork, forcing you to eat more slowly. That was 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:14.520 the whole concept. That was a big deal one year. 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:18.119 The pebble smart watch was a huge deal one year, 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:21.760 and that doesn't even exist anymore. They'll fitbit purchase that 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:25.240 and then kind of killed it off. So the pebble, 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:29.600 it shows that these little things that can become viral 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:32.200 and get everyone's attention and get a lot of excitement, 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:35.520 that doesn't mean that they are guaranteed to stick around. 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:39.040 They're not guaranteed to be a success. The Pebble was 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:43.240 huge and doesn't exist anymore, so that can raise the 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:46.400 question will the rabbit r one have better luck than 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:49.560 say the pebble. Well, let's talk about what it is first. 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:53.639 So it's a handheld device. It's kind of square ish 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:56.920 in shape. It's about half the height of your typical smartphone, 0:17:56.960 --> 0:17:59.199 so it's not as big as a smartphone. Most of 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:02.320 the front face of this device is covered with a 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:05.560 touch screen. That touch screen typically has a sort of 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:12.159 cyber rabbit icon face on it. To the right of 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:17.440 the screen is a little physical scroll wheel. It's mounted 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:20.240 so that you can scroll up or down with it. 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:24.200 Above that is a forward facing camera. It has a 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:28.240 simcard port, It's got Wi Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. It's 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:30.560 got a speaker, it's got a microphone. It's got a 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:33.480 few more things. But the physical stuff isn't really where 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:37.080 the story is with this device. See The company behind 0:18:37.080 --> 0:18:40.320 the rabbit are One Rabbit in other words, says that 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:44.000 it wants to create the next generation of computers. But 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:47.240 these computers should be able to interface with all the 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:51.160 functions we rely on today without us having to deal 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:57.199 with the actual applications that provide us those functions. So, 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:02.639 for example, than having to open up an application or 0:19:02.680 --> 0:19:05.760 a program and run a function, you could just tell 0:19:05.760 --> 0:19:07.919 the computer what it was you wanted to have happen 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:13.480 and the computer would do it. So these computers should 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:15.480 be able to interface with all the functions we rely 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:18.320 on today on behalf of us. They can act as 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:22.840 almost like a middleman. So for example, I could get 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:26.280 a smartphone and download and install apps on my phone 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:28.520 to do all sorts of stuff like to call a 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:32.280 cab or a ride share. I could have an app 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:34.600 to order food. I could have a different app so 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:37.080 I could listen to music, a different app so I 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:40.399 could watch films, or maybe I have apps that are 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:44.000 various games. But I have to download and install each 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:46.399 of those apps in order to do that. And obviously 0:19:47.359 --> 0:19:50.240 lots of different companies make these apps, so these interfaces 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:53.560 aren't universal, right, So it might actually take me a 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:56.800 little while to learn how to navigate those apps properly, 0:19:57.200 --> 0:20:00.000 because one app may use one kind of interface, another 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:03.080 might use a different one. And I don't know if 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:06.239 you've had the experience where you've opened up programs and 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:10.159 like you have that moment where you realize, oh, the 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:12.800 shortcut I'm trying to use doesn't work because that's actually 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:15.439 for a totally different program. I have it happen all 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:18.400 the time. But then I'm also I'm also getting old 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:22.000 and broken and perhaps senile. So maybe that's just a 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:27.560 Jonathan problem. But what if instead of doing all that, 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:31.120 my device just took those steps out and just interface 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:35.359 directly with the underlying platforms. What if all I needed 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:38.280 to do was to tell my computer order me a 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:40.840 deep dish Chicago pizza to get here by five pm, 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:44.000 and the computer, acting like a personal assistant, handles the 0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:46.960 entire transaction. And what if I could do any kind 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:50.040 of transaction that way, not just ordering pizza. Maybe I 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:53.359 need to order a ride. Maybe I want to watch 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:56.040 the latest episode of True Detective. Maybe I have a 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:58.879 list of things I want to do, like maybe I 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:02.640 want to do a full fledged vacation, and I need 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:04.639 to do things like I need to book flights, I 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:06.800 need to secure a hotel room, I need to get 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:10.119 tickets for a walking tour I was interested in, I 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:13.000 want to make a dinner reservation for a particular restaurant. 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:15.119 What if I just had a gadget and I just 0:21:15.200 --> 0:21:17.000 told it all these things I needed it to do, 0:21:17.040 --> 0:21:19.080 and it took care all of that for me in 0:21:19.160 --> 0:21:22.760 one go, Right. That's the kind of idea behind the 0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:26.240 Rabbit r one. The company says the secret Sauce is 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:29.640 a system they call a large action model, and it's 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:33.160 this model that figures out how to interface with all 0:21:33.240 --> 0:21:35.960 the different services out there in order to get the 0:21:36.000 --> 0:21:39.840 result that you desire, whether that's pizza delivery or an 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:42.080 update on your health records or whatever it might be. 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:44.879 There are a lot of unanswered questions when it comes 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:48.760 to this actual approach, like how can the product and 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:53.679 system ensure privacy and data security? For example. As is 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:56.520 often the case at cees, answers to the hard questions 0:21:56.520 --> 0:21:59.760 didn't really take center stage. Instead, folks got swept up 0:21:59.800 --> 0:22:02.800 with this idea of a device that you know, possibly 0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:06.200 could do all these things, And in just over a week, 0:22:06.960 --> 0:22:09.520 Rabbit had sold out of its pre order inventory that 0:22:09.600 --> 0:22:11.639 had set aside, and then it sold out of the 0:22:11.680 --> 0:22:14.600 next batch that it set aside, and then the next one, 0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:17.280 and it keeps going and one hundred and ninety nine 0:22:17.359 --> 0:22:20.119 dollars a pop. It's a pricey piece of technology, but 0:22:20.160 --> 0:22:24.840 admittedly it's significantly cheaper than your typical smartphone. So you 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:28.000 could argue, well, if you wanted to free yourself of 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:30.680 a smartphone, then maybe you could use this. Now, gret 0:22:30.760 --> 0:22:32.840 you can't use this thing as a smartphone, it's not 0:22:32.880 --> 0:22:35.280 intended to be a smartphone, but you could use it 0:22:35.359 --> 0:22:39.520 to do all these other tasks. Now, some evangelists have 0:22:39.560 --> 0:22:42.120 already talked about how the device lets you do lots 0:22:42.160 --> 0:22:45.159 of stuff that we do use smartphones for today, but 0:22:45.200 --> 0:22:48.439 it removes pesky things like notifications and distractions. So if 0:22:48.480 --> 0:22:52.240 you're someone who's like, I'm so sick of getting text 0:22:52.240 --> 0:22:55.320 messages and phone calls and all these little pop ups 0:22:55.320 --> 0:22:57.199 and stuff. I just want to be able to do 0:22:57.240 --> 0:22:58.920 what I need to do when I need to do it, 0:22:59.240 --> 0:23:02.280 and then not be bothered that I could see where 0:23:02.280 --> 0:23:04.879 you'd be. Really you'd find the appeal of the rabbit 0:23:05.000 --> 0:23:07.560