The founders of Rabbit R1, an alleged smartphone competitor, are also behind the launch of a failed NFT project that they are reportedly hiding from the internet.
The $200 Rabbit R1 was created by CEO Jesse Lyu and billed as the “future of human-machine interface.” However, the sleek design and funky scrolling weren’t enough to convince techies and the device was widely criticized upon release.
Now, rabbit r1’s negative reception has drawn attention to Lyu’s previous work on a failed NFT project called Gama. Lyu was CEO of Gama’s parent company, Cyber Manufacture Co., before it was renamed Rabbit Inc. in October 2023.
Gama claimed to be a ‘premium’ space-themed 3D platformer that incorporated NFTs and was pitched in 2022 as the metaverse of the future. But barely two years later the Gama.io domain no longer works and the site can only be viewed through the Wayback Machine Internet Archive.
One post on Luckily, Parackal says he recorded one of Lyu’s interviews before it was deleted.
He said, “We have the whole video; these guys are total scammers. I’ve said since day one that these guys are sketchy… They’re trying to take down everything related to Gama NFTs.”
The Gama YouTube channel does indeed contain videos related to the Gama project, but nothing including Lyu.
Aaron Li, who claims to have built the technical systems behind Gama, told Parackal that he had not been told to remove anything and that Parackal “may be overreacting.”
The Rabbit Inc. CEO’s NFT History contributes to the growing complaints
The Rabbit R1 relies on AI to perform several tasks that its makers hoped would eliminate the need to scroll back and forth between multiple apps. But it is increasingly criticized.
Tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee said in a review that the rabbit AI R1 “hallucinates” and “confidently answers questions wrong.” He calls the battery life “brutally bad,” describes the scrolling function as “super slow,” and complains about the restrictive touchscreen.
Read more: What it was like to have Quontic Bank’s metaverse pool party all to myself
The Verge also reported that Rabbit R1’s operating system isn’t all that unique compared to apps like Rabbit Inc. claims. Allegedly, someone is indeed there running Rabbit’s Launcher as an Android app on a Google Pixel 6A.
In response, Rabbit told The Verge: “rabbit r1 is not an Android app… Rabbit OS and LAM run in the cloud with highly customized AOSP and lower level firmware modifications, therefore a local bootleg APK without the proper OS and cloud endpoints not working. can access our service. Rabbit OS is customized for r1 and we do not support third-party clients.”
A full answer can be found on his X account.
Protos has acquired Rabbit Inc. emailed for more information on Jesse Lyu’s NFT project and reported video takedown and will update this piece if we hear back.