Humane's AI-Disguised Bet Against the iPhone Fails, Ai Pin Shuts Down

Humane's Bet Against the iPhone Fails

Humane, a company founded by former Apple engineers Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, has announced that its sole product, the Ai Pin, will cease to function in a week. The Ai Pin was an Apple Watch-sized device with a low-fidelity projector and hand gesture controls, positioned as a solution to reduce smartphone screen time. However, it lacked significant AI capabilities and relied on early versions of ChatGPT for some features.

Despite the product's name and marketing, the Ai Pin was essentially a limited-functionality iPhone accessory. It could not display content directly and required users to interact with a special phone number. The initial concept aimed to address concerns about smartphone addiction, but the pandemic made screens more essential than ever.

Humane has sold parts of its company to HP for $116 million, though the Ai Pin will not become an HP product. Instead, HP will integrate Humane's assets into its AI portfolio. Chaudhri and Bongiorno will join HP to assist with integrating AI into their products.

The financial terms seem generous given that the Ai Pin was sold for $500 or more and had a $24/month subscription that ceased functioning less than a year after launch.