CES 2024 shaken up by Rabbit's walkie-talkie AI-powered virtual assistant

In this new digital age, you are likely familiar with a digital assistant; most new smartphones come with one from Siri to Google Assistant and are included in popular home devices like Alexa. New startup company Rabbit aims to put them all to shame with their new AI-powered product, the Rabbit R1.

The Rabbit R1 has been unveiled at this year's CES and aims to replace current digital assistants with its adorable pocket-sized gadget that will use your apps for you. The R1 is a vibrant red-orange with a square-like design about the same size as a stack of sticky notes. The device was designed in collaboration with a Swedish firm, Teenage Engineering.

The device has a 2.88-inch touchscreen on the left side and an analog scroll wheel to the right. Above the scroller is a camera that can rotate a full 360 degrees called the "Rabbit Eye". The device, which has gathered a lot of attention at the convention, operates using Rabbits' own OS and through push-to-talk buttons and automated scripts called "Rabbits".

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CEO and founder Jesse Lyu claims the company's biggest innovation is in how the R1 completes tasks using what the company calls its Large Action Model (LAM).

It is designed to be trained to carry out and accomplish any task that can be done through the user interface. The device can also use its camera to allow it to interact with the world around it. In the demo at CES, the R1 is pointed toward a full refrigerator and asked to suggest recipes that are low in calories based on the contents.

Rabbit did leave some questions unanswered about the device, but regardless, the Rabbit R1 already seems to be a hit with consumers. The adorable pocket AI is priced at $199 and will ship between March and April this year.

The R1 wasn't the only strange and interesting device announced at CES 2024, as there were plenty of AI-infused products to take a look at. One of which is a gaming monitor from MSI that has been deemed controversial for its ability to provide heads-up notifications to players about enemy locations by monitoring the minimap or scanning each frame the player sees on the screen.

The problem with this technology is that it completely bypasses all anti-cheat software, as all the processing that provides the player with the notification is done on the monitor, not the PC. If you are interested in reading more about that story, check out the link below.

• Read more: MSI is releasing a new gaming monitor that could change gaming forever