We broke down the Sam Altman and Jony Ive video

You have to build a phone.

There is no other way to get the data you need to make XR glasses, AI pebble, Rabbit etc work the way people expect without it. Because Apple and Google are well within the rights to deny the siphoning of your private data to a company like OpenAI who only exists because of large scale trademark abuse.

"Disappointed it doesn’t simulate the experience of stepping on a lego brick by accident"

In segways case, not only was it a little underwhelming compared to the buzz, GW Bush flipped headfirst over it during a demo drive. I imagine that had some moderating impact on launch.

The speculation about Altman & Ive's new product rhymes perfectly, so it's fair to expect just as great a disappointment when they finally unveil the reality.

Smartphones/PCs/wearables, browsers, social media, & IDEs are absolutely important to any company wanting to sell increasingly more capable models that understand our world better with each passing year (provided the scale hypothesis keeps up): For the control over both the hardware and the OS, and for the amount of data that can be fed back to the training set.

Google (and to varying extents Microsoft & Meta) can leverage their existing products or distribution advantages. Given the how frosty both their Microsoft & Apple partnership now appears, it seems natural that OpenAI are tempted to pursue consumer devices, browsers (Operator is a start), IDEs (cf Windsurf).

It's a weird comingling of the field trying to pretend it's more important and cool than it is + rampant imposter syndrome in its superstars.

Ergo, they must pretend they're doing Very Important Work and are The Best in the World.

... meanwhile, it's fucking curves on corners. Throw a dart and pick one.

The real work is being done by unfamous, tirelessly toiling rank and file in both industries, quietly making the world a better place, bit by bit.

I think it's fair to say that most companies building products priced for Mr/Mrs Everybody don't spend a dime on design where there is already a market leader to copy inspiration, or outright steal from (see almost every phone made since 2007).

The Gold Watch was probably an opportunity to work on an interesting project with a new material.

My fear is this is a choice you or I can't make; it's up to the whims of others who may choose to use these products.

Time has shown again and again that average people don't exactly value their autonomy or privacy when technology's involved, I have no doubt it'd be the same way with literal live-streaming cameras attached to people's faces.

I remember the Segway hype. A lot of it was intriguing because they had comments from heavyweights who in theory know how to assess a major product. But, yes, we know how that played out.

For most people, that’s enough to inspire… something.

Notice that Trump often says nonsense, or says things everyone knows he can't be trusted about. But he demonstrates his power to control the social norms through his initiative, the emotional power of his rhetoric, his power overall. People perceive that the herd will follow him and go that way. Perception becomes reality.

With Altman and Ive, here are two powerful people demonstrating the same thing, to a different audience in a way appropriate to that audience. It doesn't matter what they say. The fact that it's obvious nonsense makes it more powerful - it shows they are so powerful that they can brazenly BS and still execute. Your comment shows that you believe the herd will follow them. Your perception becomes reality.

also, AI is a race to the bottom...

Businesses buy into AI so they can lay off staff -> more an more people have fewer jobs -> those jobless people can no longer afford to buy the goods that the AI replaced humans to do -> the businesses that invested in AI start losing money hand over fist -> (richest people buy into politics to corruptly ensure they stay rich, the unfairly repressed poor {and the young that never get a chance to build a career} rise up in violence) -> economic collapse. At some point AI is used to "control" the uprising.

In the end I suspect an almost complete rejection of capitalism. I dont know what will replace it. but this is all going to come to a horrible end

Why fill the streets with extras?

I think the details revealed in the article demonstrates lack of focus and misguided priorities. There was no need for the video.