Humane AI’s Attempt Simply Doesn’t Work
Despite Humane AI’s bold vision, their AI Pin fails to impress.
Humane Inc., created by ex-Apple experts aims to replace smartphones. Founded by Imran Chaudhri together with his wife Bethany Bongiorno, both are ex-apple designers.
I n April 2023, Imran Chaudhri introduced an exciting new idea during a TED Talk, which caught many people’s interest. Later in the year, his company shared more information through a press release, increasing the excitement.
The launch of the Humane AI Pin was a key event, drawing the attention of several well-known investors who saw great promise in the project. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Kindred Ventures, SK Networks, LG Technology Ventures, Microsoft, Volvo Cars Tech Fund, Tiger Global, and Qualcomm Ventures, invested in the project, showing their strong belief in its success. Additionally, Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, supported the project.
Today, people finally get a taste of the invention but have different opinions about it, some say it often doesn’t work.
A report from Bloomberg, despite its groundbreaking ideas and significant investment, the Ai Pin doesn’t meet its high expectations.
The Ai Pin costs $700 and looks like a big Apple Watch Ultra that you can attach to your clothes. It mostly uses voice commands and a small touch area, replacing a regular screen with a laser that shows images on your hand. This innovative design aims for a future without screens but ends up causing more problems than it solves. From what I’ve seen, the Ai Pin’s AI is smart enough to understand different situations and explain pictures well. This could make things easier for people who need it, but it’s not that useful for anything else.
The device is also slow to respond, gets too hot, and lacks basic features like a calendar and a timer, although updates are planned to add these. Setting up the Ai Pin is difficult, often requiring restarts and a complex system for entering passcodes. Even when it works, the touchpad doesn’t always detect inputs well, and the laser projection often doesn’t show up right. These big issues make it hard to enjoy using the device.
The Ai Pin’s reliance on voice control and laser projection makes it less appealing. Voice commands are good for certain things but not for managing tasks efficiently. The way you interact with the device — like moving a marble with your hand — is not accurate and can be annoying.
This is very different from the easy-to-use touch screens we’re used to. Also, having to clip the Ai Pin to your clothes can be impractical in different weather, especially when you need to wear several layers. Plus, its camera comes with a “trust light” to show when it’s recording, but this might still make social situations awkward. Although Humane deserves praise for trying to combine various AI technologies, the Ai Pin has too many basic issues right now. The idea of replacing smartphones with a device that requires so many compromises is too hopeful.
The Ai Pin might lead to new inventions in the future, but right now, it’s just a niche product with limited appeal. Humane might have done better to start with a more traditional app or device. For now, the Ai Pin is more of an interesting experiment than a practical investment.
