Humane Acquired, Ai Pin Discontinued
Juli Clover (Hacker News, William Gallagher):
Humane today informed customers that it is discontinuing its $700 Ai Pin at the end of February, with the device set to be taken offline less than a year after it launched in April 2024.
[…]
Humane recommends that Ai Pin users sync their devices over Wi-Fi to download stored pictures, videos, and notes before February 28 because data will be deleted after that.
The sudden discontinuation of the Ai Pin comes as Humane is being sold to HP for $116 million. HP is purchasing Humane’s CosmOS AI platform and more than 300 patents and patent applications, plus HP will be hiring Humane’s employees.
This was a $700 purchase (for the matte black base model — polished metal ones were $800) with a mandatory $24/month service charge (which included cellular networking) and extra battery “boosters” were $70. Customers who bought when it launched last April have spent at least $1,000, but probably more, all told. Humane gave them 10 days notice before the thing turns into a brick.
A regular person might read that headline and think, “wow, a startup sold for nine-figures – impressive.” Of course, it’s not impressive in this case. It’s a fire sale for a company that has been under duress for months after their product, the Ai Pin, failed to catch fire in the market.
Only so much of that can be blamed on not having access to certain APIs or it being a first-generation product. It still cost $700 and required a subscription of $24 per month. And, while HP’s deal — for less than half what the company raised — includes the software, patents, and most of the staff, it excludes the A.I. Pin.
Eventually I believe there will be a successful product like it. It will need to be simpler, though. No laser. Cheaper. Faster.
I won’t judge the team too harshly for being so ambitious. They probably knew 1.0 had fallen short but were expecting to iterate after shipping it, keep improving it. Instead, they had hyped up expectations so beyond what could be achieved at launch that when the first version flopped, it was crippling.
Louie Mantia (in 2022):
I can’t imagine that product being successful.
Which makes me wonder— is the whole idea for Humane to patent any technologies it develops in the hopes of licensing those technologies to big companies? Maybe the product is effectively a demo to facilitate Humane selling patents.
I wore the Ai Pin every day for almost six months, and very early on in those six months, I realized one thing, the Ai Pin wasn’t a complete failure. There were kernels of something truly unique and ambitious there, even if the execution was flawed. What started as an albatross around my neck (or shirt) for spending $700 on a device that barely worked, turned into a tiny research project for my thesis on ambient computing, and where a ubiquitous computer like this one would fit into people’s lives.
Previously:
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The launch video was it's death knell. How you can keep the details of a product top secret for years, raise over $200m in VC and then fianally go public with a video that showed the device giving wrong answers that had to be edited later! This was just amazing to me. That this was the level of care and attention these people paid to such a crucial moment.
If they could bungle something that basic, it was clear they weren't serious IMO.
