Humane is pulling the plug on its screenless AI assistant
The company's ambitious AI Pin experiment ends in failure as HP swoops in to acquire its tech and talent.
At one point, Humane’s AI Pin was supposed to be the next big thing. A screenless AI assistant you could clip onto your shirt, talk to like a friend, and interact with using a laser projected onto your palm. However, this revolution has quickly turned into a cautionary tale.
The AI Pin's reality fell short of its lofty ambitions, plagued by performance issues, overheating problems, and a hefty price tag that failed to deliver on its promise. After a rocky launch, the AI Pin's demise was swift, and its remnants have been scooped up by HP for a fraction of Humane's original valuation.
Oyinebiladou Omemu
The writing was on the wall from the start. When the AI Pin launched in April 2024 for $699 (plus a mandatory $24 monthly subscription), early adopters quickly realized they had bought into a half-baked idea. By August, Humane had sold fewer than 10,000 units, with return rates reportedly surpassing new sales. The numbers were dismal, and Humane's decision to sell was inevitable.
The sale however was a significant loss of value for Humane. It had originally hoped for a billion-dollar buyout, but when the dust settled, HP swooped in with a $116 million deal, far below Humane’s previous valuation of $850 million.
HP isn’t reviving the AI Pin, but it is taking over Humane’s intellectual property, software, and most of its employees. The founders Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, both ex-Apple executives, will now lead a new HP division called HP IQ, tasked with integrating AI into HP’s product ecosystem.
For existing AI Pin owners, Humane is pulling the plug on its cloud services on February 28, meaning all AI functions will stop working. If you bought the device more than 90 days ago, there’s no refund, and you’ll have just 10 days to download your saved data before it’s erased forever. For the offline features? Well, you can still check your battery level, but that’s about it. The recall of the charging case due to overheating concerns has also been scrapped.
While Humane’s vision of a screen-free future may have tanked, HP seems to believe its underlying technology can still be useful in shaping next-gen AI experiences.
