The AI Popularity contest

Analyzing the brand strategies of ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity

In the 1990s, Sony was preparing to launch a household robot. Their technology was impressive but imperfect: the robot could mishear commands or simply get them wrong. So, instead of launching the product as a robot (think block-y design, 3CPO-like interface, computer-like voice), the team launched it as a dog.

And this completely changed expectations of the robot. Instead of criticizing the product when it did not function perfectly (useless robot…), customers layered on the association of a pet. Oh, he’s being disobedient today. Look how cute he is. The dog is acting up again.

The product was called the AIBO and Sony sold 130,000+ of them (Source: HBR). The dog positioning did not just lower expectations of the technology. It also helped Sony attract an audience beyond the typical early-adopter cohort:

Categorizing the robot as a pet helped Sony attract lead consumers who were more demographically and psychographically diverse — ranging from the elderly to very young children — than typical technology early adopters. — HBR

Artificial intelligence (AI) apps like ChatGPT could be said to be in a similar position. The tech is impressive and game changing. It’s also not always…