Era, a startup that aims to empower others to build AI gadgets, has raised $11 million in funding. At an event in New York, artists showcased experimental mini gadgets ranging from air quality monitors to stock-checking devices.

The platform offered by Era allows hardware manufacturers to create AI agents and orchestrations for their devices without needing to develop the software themselves. This could revolutionize how we interact with tech, moving beyond apps to intelligent objects.

Co-founder Liz Dorman believes that this intelligence layer will democratize technology, allowing anyone to create intelligent devices. She envisions a future where users have more control over their gadgets and can choose different AI providers in a privacy-preserving way.

Era currently supports over 130 language models from various providers and aims to support the growing number of new device forms. The challenge, however, is that no clear path to success has emerged in the AI hardware space yet.