Founders of rabbit r1, a supposed competitor to the smartphone, are also behind the launch of a failed NFT project that they’re reportedly hiding from the web.
The $200 rabbit r1 was created by CEO Jesse Lyu and billed as the ‘future of human-machine interface.’ However, its sleek design and funky scrolling weren’t enough to woo techies and the device was roundly criticized on release.
Now rabbit r1’s negative reception has brought attention to Lyu’s prior work on a failed NFT project called Gama. Lyu was CEO of Gama’s parent company, Cyber Manufacture Co., before it rebranded to rabbit Inc. in October 2023.
Promotional material shared on Gama’s YouTube channel.
Gama claimed to be a ‘premium’ space-themed 3D platformer that incorporated NFTs and was pitched in 2022 as the metaverse of the future. However, barely two years later, the Gama.io domain no longer works and the site can only be viewed via the Wayback Machine internet archive.
One post on X from AI advocate Andy Parackal claims that the Gama team has been deleting every YouTube video involving rabbit’s CEO. Fortunately, Parackal says he recorded one of Lyu’s interviews before it was wiped.
He said, “We got the entire video; these guys are total grifters. I’ve been saying from day one that these guys are sketchy… They are trying to delete everything involved with Gama NFTs.”
The reported Gama interview featuring Jesse Lyu.
Indeed the Gama YouTube channel does contain videos relating to the Gama project, but nothing including Lyu.
Aaron Li, who claims to have built the technical systems behind Gama, told Parackal he wasn’t told to delete anything and that Parackal “may be overreacting.”
Rabbit Inc. CEO’s NFT history adds to growing complaints
The rabbit r1 relies on AI to perform various tasks its creators hoped would eliminate the need to scroll back and forth between multiple apps. But it’s been met with growing criticism.
Tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee said in a review that the rabbit r1’s…