Elon MuskSpaceX showed investors a prototype “combined type” AI device, reports the Wall Street Journal.
The prototype is said to be sleeker and thinner than an iPhone, leading us to wonder if it falls between a small touchscreen phone and a Rabbit R1. SpaceX reportedly showed the device to investors and stakeholders before it was made public, and told them it was early enough that the design could still change.
Musk denied this information, calling it “completely false.”
SpaceX, alongside its sister company Tesla, has the manufacturing expertise needed to mass produce any number of AI devices, not to mention access to the chips needed to power any computation on the device. SpaceX has also indicated it wants to expand into wireless, with Starlink Mobile a potential competitor to Verizon and AT&T. One analyst even went so far as to hypothesize that T-Mobile or AT&T would make attractive acquisition targets for the rocket maker, although such a purchase would undoubtedly be costly.
It’s also unclear whether SpaceX is just throwing spaghetti at the wall or whether it will attempt to actually mass produce and market such a device. But one thing that seems clearer is that if OpenAI does it, Musk might want to try to do it better.
As we know, OpenAI is working with former Apple design director Jony Ive on an AI device that CEO Sam Altman says will be more peaceful than an iPhone. Reports from last fall suggested the company was struggling to get the details right, and OpenAI recently tapped another Apple executive to potentially help move things along. Last week, news broke that Paul Meade, Apple’s vice president in charge of the Vision Pro headset, joined the OpenAI hardware team.
Like OpenAI, SpaceX’s prototype would be designed to run on a proprietary operating system and incorporate technology from xAI, Musk’s AI company that SpaceX acquired earlier this year. This would prevent these new devices from being trapped in other companies’ platforms (like Google’s Android). But the intention also seems to be to create something new, with native AI interfaces. That said, the graveyard is filled with unsuccessful launches of AI devices from companies like Humane and Rabbit. A company wanting to sell an AI device does not equate to consumers wanting to buy such a thing. Again.
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Rebecca Bellan is a senior reporter at TechCrunch where she covers the business, policy and emerging trends shaping artificial intelligence. His work has also appeared in Forbes, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast and other publications.
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