Rising from the ashes. Why the comeback of rabbit is good news for AI.

Do you remember rabbit r1, the orange and square smart device, powered by AI, which was the talk of the town last year? It almost died. It’s now back. This is good news for the tech space.

What was all the fuss about?  

The golden rule for startups is to ship fast, break things, learn and iterate quickly. That gives founders hubris and stamina, and venture capital the hope that one of these trial-and-error gigs will hit the jackpot. Most startups don’t survive. rabbit, which came to sudden fame during 2024 CES in Las Vegas (the best tech fair in the world), almost collapsed under the pressure of hype and a flood of negative reviews. The company is now back, after having revolutionized their gear, and hopes for a less stressful second life

What happened in Vegas did not stay there. Founder and CEO Jesse Lyu’s video-presentation hit millions of views overnight. rabbit was a 17-people team, with a sales target of 5,000 units for r1, its first product. At a time when only a small handful of players had begun working on AI-native software-in-hardware solutions, they sold more than 8,000 units within hours from the launch. More than 100,000 pre-orders happened in the first two months alone.

r1’s experience had a number of limitations. Reviewers noted problems immediately, particularly in comparison to smartphones’ standards. Some critics quickly latched onto AI products like r1 as a proof-point to justify a general sense of disappointment about AI. The early r1 experience was bad news for the whole AI movement. However, as batches of 10,000 units shipped every month, feedback became crucial for resurrection.

What happened then? 

In a nutshell, it was like a turnaround textbook. rabbit hosted hours-long weekly feedback workshops with its core community. Over a year and a half, they released more than 30 over-the-air software updates and countless cloud-based updates. These efforts fixed r1 flaws and placated the media and social media debate.

rabbit was the first company to deliver AI agents at scale, and their system, which helps users navigate websites and perform actions on the go, was key for the turnaround. Building on the momentum of agentic AI, rabbit launched its second product, rabbit intern, which is an all-purpose AI agent that gives any individual the abilities of an entire team, delivering high-quality, polished websites, research reports, presentations, games, and more. The system has its own general agency to reason, plan, coordinate and execute tasks, based on natural-language prompts. Consumers can assign rabbit tasks they might typically delegate to their intern at work. And, the system boosts its capabilities over time, eventually reaching an advanced level, similar to a highly experienced professional.

With rabbitOS 2, launched for all r1 devices in September 2025, the company redesigned the old interface. The card-based design leverages the familiar concept of a deck of cards. Each feature has its own card in the stack, allowing users to browse and access them by swiping or using the scroll wheel.

Now, here is the true gem. rabbit’s newest agentic AI development, called “creations”, gives users the power to build new software tools, games, and other experiences through real-time conversations with its agent. In a matter of minutes, the creation will appear directly on the device and will be ready to use right away. Inspired by the rise in vibe coding, creations makes it easier for all consumers, regardless of their technical skills (even with zero coding knowledge), to create anything they want. As more creations become available, they can be shared through a built-in app store. More than 5,000 creations were made within six days from launch.

What’s the good news?  

rabbit r1 is the first device that lets users generate their own interface, voice, and software on device by speaking to an AI agent. Users can also easily share their creations with other r1 users.

AI will be more and more dominated by agents and by the intersection of hardware and software. AI desperately needs a plurality of voices and places where creators can share (and, one day, earn, proportionally to their willingness to play). For those who are too young to remember, Facebook (and social media, as a business) was born as an open and creative space, where monetizing data was not the absolute priority for Meta. AI risks becoming as centralized, oligopolistic and closed as Web 2.0, unless new players get a chance to empower and reward creators, who can use the platform for their own purposes, while openly sharing output with peers. rabbit’s second life must be devoted to shipping, learning and especially empowering fans, if it wants to survive and leave a mark in the AI world.

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