{"id":41046,"date":"2023-11-10T15:59:31","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T20:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=41046"},"modified":"2024-02-06T09:37:01","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T14:37:01","slug":"humane-ai-pin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2023\/11\/10\/humane-ai-pin\/","title":{"rendered":"Humane Ai Pin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Juli Clover<\/a> (Hacker<\/a> News<\/a>):<\/p>\n

Humane, a tech startup run by former Apple designer Imran Chaudhri, today officially unveiled its first product, the Ai Pin<\/a>. Priced at $700, the Ai Pin is a standalone device that Humane says was built from the ground up for artificial intelligence.<\/p>

The Ai Pin attaches to a clothing item using a magnetic system that involves a detachable battery, which is also how the device is powered. The idea is to swap the battery out for a new battery when necessary, resulting in what Humane calls a “perpetual power system.” It is not clear how long each battery lasts.<\/p>

Design wise, the Ai Pin looks something like an Apple Watch with a rounded rectangular shape, It is made from aluminum, comes in three colors, and has a Gorilla Glass touchpad. There’s also an “optical sensing capsule,” a 3D depth sensor, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip to power it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Here’s the launch video<\/a>. Lots of people are remarking that the AI’s answers about the eclipse and the almonds are both wrong.<\/p>\n\n

John Gruber<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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They really do mean for this to replace, not supplement, your phone.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

They want to replace apps with AI, too. All the software is written by them, with its data stored in their cloud. On the contrary, it seems like this product should<\/em> be a phone app, with some optional supplemental hardware, but that’s not possible because Apple would never allow a third-party product that level of access.<\/p>\n\n

There are lots of cool ideas here, but I don’t see how it can replace a phone when there are so many areas that it will always be worse at. On the other hand, you could see how it would be a non-starter to tell someone who already has a phone and a watch that they should carry a third<\/em> device. The form factor of a pin, so that it must be moved whenever you add or remove a layer of clothing, seems like a disaster.<\/p>\n\n

Nick Heer<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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You can think of it as the answer to the question what if you could wear a smart kitchen speaker?<\/em> and it sounds kind of compelling or, at least, not stupid. If a smartphone is a perfect convergence device, you can think of this as an attempt to move in the other direction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some people say they want to use their phone less, but a $700 device with a $24-per-month cell plan seems like an ambitious product for that niche. There are also plausible accessibility benefits to a mostly voice-controlled device for anyone who is able to clearly speak but maybe lacks fine motor control.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

bosch<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I just don’t get this, or any other “VUI”\/voice-centric platform for that matter. The killer feature of the smartphone or watch isn’t that it’s the most convenient (which it is), it’s that whatever you want to do on it is at least somewhat private. I don’t want the guy next to me on the train to know I’m messaging Andrew, and he doesn’t want to hear me message Andrew either. Asking me to speak out loud these commands removes that privacy. I think this type of “out loud interface” is the wrong direction for personal devices… forcing us to expose our “private selves” or conflate that with our “public selves” is really an area where humans need to draw the line, IMO.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n