Humane thought they were breaking new boundaries with their AI Pin. But it’s taken a much different route in its hope to become a breakthrough.
With the onset of AI, several innovations have been plaguing the market. While some have been successful, several more projects have been scratched. A similar story follows the AI Pin.
In 2024, a post on X gave the techies hope – the AI Pin will start shipping in March 2024. But the hype died down – with increasing negative reviews outlining its shortcomings. It would overheat, and the AI system would offer incorrect responses.
This bug couldn’t be fixed. And instead of selling 10,000 units in the first year, it received only 10,000 total orders.
In recent developments, this once hyped-up wearable AI has been discontinued. This creative idea was underpinned by the former Apple duo – Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno.
This idea remains groundbreaking – a wearable, conversational, and screenless AI system. When the concept was introduced into the market as a smartphone replacement, it was to cost around $699.
It’s quite a curious endeavor. So, how did it exactly function?
In simple terms, it would have allowed users to interact with AI but without a screen. This was designed as a pin clipped on clothes and accessories, leveraging voice, touch, and gestures as inputs. To innovate it into a screenless device, the information could be displayed on the users’ hands.
Now, Humane has become a part of HP. It raised $240 million with the help of other Silicon Valley investors, such as OpenAI’s CEO and Salesforce’s CEO.
Humane, the startup behind this Pin, has now been acquired by HP for $116 million. This has kickstarted a new beginning for HP on the innovation front, with Chaudhari and Bongiorno being part of the deal.