Video Shows the AI on Rabbit’s R1 Destroying the Humane Ai Pin

With the Humane Ai Pin making it into customers’ hands and the Rabbit R1 expected to follow shortly after, we’re all waiting for the inevitable AI companion showdown. Luckily, Rabbit’s CEO and founder Jesse Lyu has put an unedited demo out to show what the R1 brings to the table.

It’s worth noting that this is a Rabbit exec using an early test unit of the R1, but the testing team ran both devices through basic functions that each was capable of doing. Lyu also says he wanted the demo to focus on speed and accuracy and had both devices disconnected from Wi-Fi for the unfiltered results.

If the test is any indication, the R1 proved to be faster and more reliable than the Ai Pin, whether it was a simple request or a complex task. The Ai Pin sometimes failed to understand Lyu’s request at all, while the R1 picked up requests more easily.

Beat by Seconds

When it comes to straightforward questions, the Rabbit R1 beat out the Ai Pin in a matter of seconds. When asking about simple things like the current weather or what Apple’s stock price is, R1 came out first, but the Ai Pin did deliver more detailed responses. The R1 was even quicker to set up a reminder or play a certain song.

Beyond simple requests, Lyu and his employees put each device to the test on more complex questions and follow-ups. While the R1 was quicker at understanding and spitting back out a response, the Ai Pin again delivered more nuanced answers, including how Saturn is made up of 94 percent hydrogen when asked what the main gas of Saturn was. The Ai Pin did score a win when it came to a follow-up question about Prince’s album, though. Humane’s device correctly ID’d the second single on Prince’s Sign of the Times album, and the R1 accidentally defined what a “second single” is instead, completely missing the point of the prompt.

Crushed on Complex Tasks

When it comes to more complex tasks like identifying what’s in front of it, the difference is much more noticeable. While the R1 could recognize things like a Game Boy with a camera attachment, a synthesizer, and a Discord conversation, Humane’s Ai Pin was far more finicky and sometimes failed to complete the task at all.

With the R1’s viewfinder, you know exactly what you’re pointing at when you’re asking it to identify something. On the other hand, the Ai Pin struggled to pinpoint exactly what Lyu was asking for. In the demo, you can even see how the Ai Pin mistakenly targets a MacBook to the side of Lyu’s desk when he was clearly pointing it at his synth setup.

Vote With Your Wallet

Since Lyu is the founder and CEO of Rabbit, there’s obviously some bias in his demo between the two devices. However, he makes valid points from the end-user perspective, particularly that a customer would get frustrated and lose trust in a device after failing to complete the task you ask of it.

Side by side, it’s very evident that the R1 is much more intuitive while the Ai Pin has a considerable learning curve. The Ai Pin could eventually work out all of its initial kinks, but it’s still hard to justify spending $699 on it — not counting all the subscriptions — when the R1 does similar tasks better and for a fraction of the price.