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

When Tony Fadell takes the stage at the inaugural MIT Future Fest, he projects a slide with three images of once-hyped AI devices that have already been discontinued: the Rabbit R1, the Humane AI pin, and the Limitless pendant.

“These were kind of the ‘Gen 1’ AI products, and because of my background, these companies called me and asked me to help them,” Fadell said. “I didn’t.”

It’s no surprise that these companies want Fadell’s advice. He’s credited as the “father of the iPod,” a co-creator of the iPhone, and the founder of Nest, the smart thermostat company acquired by Google.

“You have to really understand what you’re trying to do, what pain you’re trying to solve,” he said. “In each of these cases, each one of them didn’t meet any kind of need — it was just interesting technology for geeks, and you’re like, ‘Okay, that’s neat, but it doesn’t really apply to my life.’”

These early AI devices promised the convenience of having a personal assistant, but didn’t actually work that well. Even if they did, most people have never had an assistant and know how they would use — or grow to trust — a personal robot helper.

“It’s less than 0.01% of the world population that has ever had a human [assistant] do anything, and so when [companies] say, ‘Oh, we want an assistant,’ that’s a bunch of people who have assistants saying it,” he said. “Most consumers don’t even know what an assistant is.”

Fadell goes on to explain to those of us in the 99.99% that hiring a trustworthy personal assistant isn’t as straightforward as pulling the most promising resume out of a pile of applications.

“It took me a couple of years first to understand how best to utilize [an assistant], and then to trust them with the most sensitive data, and have them be an agent where they’re setting up meetings with people and working with my bank,” he said. “I understand we have this vision of the future, but there’s a lot of steps to get the general consumer and even the general business on this path.”