It’s possible the Humane AI Pin will go down as one of the — if not the — worst-reviewed product launches in modern tech history. Humane, the company started by former Apple executives and designers, first announced its generative-AI powered, screenless wearable in 2023, hyped up to the point where runway models wore them at Paris Fashion Week.
But then reviewers got their hands on them, with results reminiscent of the dumpster fire that was Google’s Nexus Q.
David Pierce said in our own review that absolutely no one should buy it. Marques Brownlee said the AI Pin is “The Worst Product I’ve Ever Reviewed… For Now.” Engadget called it “the solution to none of technology’s problems.” The Washington Post called it “a promising mess you don’t need yet.” Cooling issues, latency issues, and many missing features are only some of the gripes with this $699 plus $24 monthly subscription fee AI pin.
Humane AI claims it will get better with time, but how much time is there for a company that laid off 4 percent of its employees just a few months before the launch? Will it ever be considered worth the asking price? We’ll be keeping tabs, and in the meantime, here’s everything that has happened post-launch.
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MKBHD calls the Humane AI pin “the worst product I’ve ever reviewed.”
If you thought David Pierce’s review for us was scathing, just wait till you watch Marques Brownlee’s review that just dropped. Yikes.
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Image: Alex Parkin / The VergeSeven. Hundred. Dollars. After a year of asking questions about this much-hyped AI wearable, the Humane AI Pin is here, and, well, we still have lots of questions. We’re also still trying to figure out how it all works — and where it goes from here.
On this episode of The Vergecast, we dive deep into our review of the AI Pin and try to figure out what went wrong with this device and whether there’s a real future for it or any other AI-powered gadget. The trouble, we discover, is that these devices are stacking new technology on top of new technology, and until it all works perfectly, none of it will work very well. Also, did we mention the AI Pin is seven hundred dollars?
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I tried asking the Humane AI Pin if it had lunch in Japanese.
I tried getting the pin to translate lyrics to children’s songs in Japanese and Korean. Emphasis on tried.
For the record, the Google Translate app on my phone had zero problems.
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The idea behind the Humane AI Pin is a simple one: it’s a phone without a screen. Instead of asking you to open apps and tap on a keyboard, this little wearable abstracts everything away behind an AI assistant and an operating system Humane calls CosmOS. Want to make a phone call, send a text message, calculate the tip, write something down, or learn the population of Copenhagen? Just ask the AI Pin. It uses a cellular connection (only through T-Mobile and, annoyingly, not connected to your existing number) to be online all the time and a network of AI models to try to answer your questions and execute your commands. It’s not just an app; it’s all the apps.
Humane has spent the last year making the case that the AI Pin is the beginning of a post-smartphone future in which we spend less time with our heads and minds buried in the screens of our phones and more time back in the real world. How that might work, whether that’s something we want, and whether it’s even possible feel like fundamental questions for the future of our relationship with technology.
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:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25071184/Humane_Ai_Pin_Business.jpeg?w=640&ssl=1 "Humane AI Pin launch: the reviews are in, and they’re not good 4")
The AI Pin does a lot of smartphone things — but it looks nothing like a smartphone. Image: HumaneOn Thursday, after months of demos and hints about what the AI-powered future of gadgets might look like, Humane finally took the wraps off of its first device: the AI Pin.
The device, as we revealed yesterday, is a $699 wearable in two parts: a square device and a battery pack that magnetically attaches to your clothes or other surfaces. In addition to that price, there’s also the $24 monthly fee for a Humane subscription, which gets you a phone number and data coverage through T-Mobile’s network. The company told Wired the device will start shipping in early 2024 and that preorders begin November 16th.
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Alex Heath
