“I mean, nobody should buy this device right now.”

I recently rewatched two reviews of AI companion devices from Marques Brownlee (a.k.a. MKBHD), which both came out in April 2024 – the Humane AI Pin and the Rabbit R1: Brownlee is a charismatic reviewer, and I won’t lie – there’s a certain amount of delicious schadenfreude seeing two products announced with so much unnecessary hubris faceplant so solidly. But past all that, what stood out to me was the storytelling, and this is why I wanted to post these videos; the work feels good here, and deserves studying in how to talk about these things. Brownlee manages to cut through the bullshit and candidly talk (but also show) what these devices should be all about. There are some nice editing choices; casually pulling up the phone and getting an answer while the AI Pin is still thinking is a pretty powerful moment. The reviews also come with higher-level reflections, and what stuck with me since the original watch years ago were the segments about how more and more often, devices like…