Humane AI Pin’s short, bumpy ride is over. HP announced on Tuesday (February 18) that it was acquiring the company and absorbing some employees for $116 million. According to a report in Bloomberg, the Human AI pin will be discontinued.
In a release on the acquisition, HP notes that it will “acquire key AI capabilities from Humane, including their AI-powered platform Cosmos, highly skilled technical talent, and intellectual property with more than 300 patents and patent applications.” It makes no mention of hardware.
Humane AI was a fascinating wearable AI computing device that arrived in November 2023. Instead of a screen, the device featured a camera to watch your world and a tiny projector; you held out your hand and could see little messages and information from the pin. You interacted with the platform through voice and gestures. It sounded, at the time, like the future.
Humane AI Pin, though, ran aground in April 2024 when early adopters delivered scathing reviews. YouTube giant Marques Brownlee called it “The worst product I’ve ever reviewed… for now.” That conclusion and a collection of other terrible reviews more or less sealed its fate. Well, that and issues with the batter clip that may have been a fire hazard. Even TechRadar rated it one of the biggest tech flops of 2024.
HP AI gets Humane
HP, though, sounds more than impressed with the system’s AI capabilities and plans to weave them (or some form of them) throughout HP products. From the release: Humane’s engineers “will help us create an intelligent ecosystem across all HP devices from AI PCs to smart printers and connected conference rooms. This will unlock new levels of functionality for our customers and deliver on the promises of AI.”
For HP, which has been comparatively quiet on the AI innovation front, this acquisition could be a real boon to its business. As for the Humane AI team, they have nothing but praise for their new owners. In a release on the Humane website, Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri, Co-founders of Humane, wrote, “We’re excited to join HP at such a pivotal moment in the industry and help shape the future of intelligent experiences,” said.
Humane’s release also makes no mention of the AI Pin.
This is good news for Humane AI fans and, obviously, less good news for those who paid $699 for the pin. Perhaps HP will offer them, discounts on whatever HP products end up featuring Humane AI.
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lance.ulanoff@futurenet.com (Lance Ulanoff)
