Humane.AI — First Gen troubles
But are reviewers missing the point?
In the last few months we in the tech space have been hearing about this new wearable pin that has a goal of becoming our ‘second brain’ as the brand puts it.
It promises to be our AI on the go, being our assistant at the touch of a button to research, send messages, play music and ultimately free our hands from mobile phones.
While the launch videos were intriguing, I quickly realized I wasn’t ready to be an early adopter.
My reliance on my smartphone meant the Humane.AI pin would just be an additional device. However, after watching tech reviews and seeing early reactions online, a thought struck me:
Is the Tech World Judging with a Smartphone Bias?
The proverb “if the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail” comes to mind.
Reviewers, who are used to feature-rich smartphones, might naturally hold the pin to a higher standard. It’s easy to fall into the “there’s an app for that” mindset when your phone is a Swiss Army knife of functionality.
Here’s the point I think most are missing:
Humane.AI likely targets people who want less time on their phones.
A shortsighted strategy?
I can see the conundrum they must have faced: integrate the pin with smartphones or go solo? Launching as a standalone product was a bold move.
Perhaps a more palatable approach would have been allowing smartphone integration, leveraging existing processing power. As the pin’s technology matured, they could gradually “disconnect” from phones.
And then as the Humane AI pin’s technology itself evolves, they could start ‘disconnecting’ from the smartphones.
The new UI and ways in which you interact with the pin seem friendly enough and well thought-out but there are clear delays when responding to requests which I am almost certain would not be there, if they allowed that connection to an app on the smartphone.
In essence, a strategy to move phones from hands to pockets before complete removal might have been more successful.
The tech giant bias
Another question that came to mind, was whether reviewers were being ‘fair’ to Humane.
Whilst it is difficult to imagine Google, Apple or Samsung releasing a product that cannibalizes their core business (smartphones), would they face the same scrutiny?
Humane on the right track — A callout for a better way
Seeing young kids stuck to their mobile phones doom-scrolling and disconnected from other humans always makes me ponder what the future holds.
We are already seeing the damaging effects of excessive social media and how much time is being wasted online.
I remain hopeful for a more balanced approach to technology and AI, and Humane.AI might be the beginning of a call for better interaction with both technology and other humans.
