Tony Fadell on why the first wave of AI gadgets failed — and what comes next

Tony Fadell, credited as the "father of the iPod," a co-creator of the iPhone and founder of Nest, spoke at the inaugural MIT Future Fest, where he displayed a slide of three discontinued AI devices: the Rabbit R1, the Humane AI pin and the Limitless pendant. Fadell said the companies behind them called him and asked for his help, and that he declined.

He described these as "Gen 1" AI products that failed to meet any need, calling them interesting technology for geeks that did not apply to people's lives. He said the devices promised the convenience of a personal assistant but did not work that well, and that most people have never had an assistant and do not know how they would use or come to trust one. Fadell said less than 0.01% of the world's population has ever had a human assistant, and that most consumers do not even know what an assistant is. He said it took him a couple of years to understand how best to use an assistant and to trust one with sensitive data, including meetings and banking, and that there are many steps before general consumers and businesses reach that path.

Fadell said trust and safety will be paramount with anything turned over to some kind of intelligence. He said the only company he could see doing this right now, maybe one other, is Apple, which has the hardware, chips and pieces but not all the AI.

He predicted a successful agent will have to operate on-device only, for privacy and to keep the tech lightweight, and said he does not believe data centers will conquer the world, adding that devices now have significant power and compute while remaining battery operated. He theorized that Meta and OpenAI are turning to gadgets because they lack access to phone sensors, describing a list of permissions including video, audio and GPS location.

Asked about the luck involved in product-market fit, Fadell said it is harder for startups to manufacture that luck because a failed product can end the company, adding that a startup gets one shot, unlike Apple with the Vision Pro.