Humane today announced the availability of its first product, the AI Pin. The Bay Area-based hardware startup has been around since 2017, a year after co-founders Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri left Apple. Since then, the company has been well-funded at $230 million and is focused on developing standalone AI devices.
AI Pin is the first in a long line of devices that Humane hopes will leverage the power and popularity of generative AI platforms like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. The system is based on a number of different LLM-based systems and uses what it believes is the best platform for each individual job.
TechCrunch spoke with Bongiorno and Chaudhri about the company’s history and plans for the future. We also got one of the devices for practical testing. The Humane AI Pin is still a first-generation product in many ways, including reliability and functionality, but the hardware reflects a great attention to detail that betrays its founder’s origins.
Humane’s vision for the $699 device is one in which a new technology can overcome the limitations of its predecessors. Specifically, this means a voice-based, always-connected device that can help users look up from their phone screen from time to time.
In our recent conversation, Bongiorno described an experience that set the co-founders on the path that would ultimately lead to the pin. “We went to this dinner and there was a family sitting next to us,” she noted. “There were three kids and a mom and a dad, and they were on the phone the whole time. It really started a discussion about the incredible tool we had developed, but also some of the side effects.”
The AI Pin is the first in what will almost certainly be a long line of products to harness the blessings of generative AI. At CES in January, Rabbit caused a stir with its R1 handheld. The following month at MWC, Brain.AI unveiled its vision of a mobile phone that uses generative AI as the core of its novel operating system. The field is already proving to be diverse given general smartphone sales difficulties.
For Humane’s starting price of $699, you get the AI Pin, an additional battery, and an AI charging case. Various color options start at $799. There are various accessories available that cost between $29 and $49, while the mandatory subscription service costs $24. As a sign of good faith, Humane is giving away three months free with the purchase of a pin.