Carl Pei is teasing an AI gadget, though he’s given us very little to go on. He’s ruled out a new screen and says it won’t be an app. Both clues appeared in his lengthy X essay, “Toolmakers,” which Nothing reshared with a message about toolmakers defining the next era of AI.
I’m in, cautiously. Pei reckons the whole industry is chasing the iPhone of AI. Wrong race, he says. Funny line from the company behind Essential Space, and I’ll get to why.
Pei’s teaser from November 5 says the product ships next month. December, then. Nothing hasn’t given it a name yet, or a price, and I’d be surprised if either slips out early.
“No new screen” is the part that bugs me, in a good way. He picked the word “new” on purpose. A company with a display-free gadget would just say no screen, so my money’s on a device that borrows the phone already in your pocket and takes orders by voice or a button press.
Earbuds with a smarter brain would be my first guess, a clip-on pendant my second. Glasses feel less likely to me, since most smart glasses worth wearing put some kind of display in front of your eye, and Pei went out of his way to rule a new one out. I could be wrong. Nothing likes to surprise people.
Walking Theia at the dog playground is where I get some of my best ideas. It’s also where I lose plenty of them. Getting my phone out, unlocking it, and opening a notes app takes just long enough for my brain to move on. A little recording button on my jacket sounds like something I’d actually use.
Pei starts with fire and the printing press, then puts intelligence alongside them. I snorted. That’s quite a family tree for a product nobody has laid eyes on.
His point about tools deserves a fair hearing, though. A hammer doesn’t ask about your day. You grab it when there’s a nail to deal with, do the job, and forget about it until next time. No login, no small talk, no attempt to become your new best friend. Most AI assistants companies have pushed this year seem to want exactly that relationship. They start with a chat window.
Essential Space is already part of the Nothing phone experience. Press its dedicated key and you’re there. Except some owners would apparently rather be somewhere else. The replies to Pei’s post include complaints about the feature feeling unfinished and people who’ve reassigned the button.
Take the screen away and every misheard request has nowhere to hide. I’m curious, and you probably are too. Before I trust it, though, I want to watch it handle something dull, like a grocery reminder shouted across a windy park.