The Challenges of AI Pin: Insights from Its Launch

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Last November, a piece of AI hardware called “AI Pin” took the tech world by storm.

This device breaks away from tradition, eliminating the screen interface and relying entirely on voice and projection technology to interact with users, responding to short commands and showcasing unprecedented convenience.

The Challenges of AI Pin: Insights from Its Launch

AI Pin is not only depicted as a futuristic sci-fi product in official promotions but has also garnered high expectations within the industry.

It was named one of the “Best Inventions of 2023” by Time magazine and is predicted by many critics to potentially disrupt the iPhone.

The American startup Humane, as the developer of AI Pin, successfully attracted substantial investments from tech giants like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Qualcomm, raising hundreds of millions of RMB, which fully demonstrates the product’s immense potential and market confidence. However, in mid-April, with the official delivery of AI Pin, the actual performance seemed to fall short of market expectations.

The Challenges of AI Pin: Insights from Its Launch Can AI Hardware Truly Replace Smartphones? The Challenges of AI Pin: Insights from Its Launch

This is a wearable device equipped with a laser projector, aiming to “become a replacement for smartphones, even eliminating people’s reliance on them.” AI Pin can utilize AI to achieve all functions, such as finding answers, taking notes, making calls, and sending messages for users. It provides services in a conversational manner and can project the display interface onto the user’s palm, allowing them to operate through gestures, supported by a virtual assistant powered by GPT-4.

The Challenges of AI Pin: Insights from Its Launch

However, from the media reviews of AI Pin, the feedback has not been ideal, with many foreign media giving low ratings to AI Pin, and some users joking that the only thing AI Pin does right is display the time. This has once again sparked discussions about what devices could replace smartphones.

The Challenges of AI Pin: Insights from Its Launch What is AI Pin? The Challenges of AI Pin: Insights from Its Launch

From the appearance of AI Pin and its accessories, it is evident that its simple and refreshing design is very similar to Apple’s products. As speculated, Humane was founded by former Apple software engineering director Bethany Bongiorno (who was deeply involved in iOS and MacOS software engineering as well as the development of the first-generation iPad) and designer Imran Chaudhri (who was deeply involved in the design of the iPhone’s main screen), and the two met at Apple and eventually became a couple.
The Challenges of AI Pin: Insights from Its Launch
It is said that there are hundreds of employees in the company from Apple. For instance, former iCloud infrastructure engineering head Patrick Gates is now the CTO of Humane; its technical advisor is Ruben Caballero, who was in charge of Apple’s 5G modem for over 15 years; previously, iPhone 7 design lead Miguel Christophy and Monique Relova, who worked on iOS camera engineering, along with dozens of former Apple employees responsible for iPhone touchscreen keyboards, Apple’s industrial design elements, and services like Apple Pay and Home, are also part of this company. Thus, it is not surprising that AI Pin has a strong “Apple flavor”.
Humane not only received support from former Apple employees but also attracted investments from many heavyweight figures and companies in the tech industry. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman led Humane’s Series A funding in 2020 and continued to invest in the subsequent Series B and C rounds, currently holding nearly 15% of Humane’s shares, making him the largest shareholder. Humane has made it clear that it will adopt OpenAI’s latest technology and integrate it into their products when promoting AI Pin. Besides OpenAI, Humane has also received investments from tech and industrial giants like Microsoft, LG, Qualcomm, and Volvo. As of last March, after the latest funding round, Humane’s valuation has soared to $850 million, reflecting the market’s high recognition of its potential.

The Challenges of AI Pin: Insights from Its Launch Disappointing Market Performance The Challenges of AI Pin: Insights from Its Launch

On April 11 of this year, AI Pin was shipped in the US, with three versions available: Eclipse, Lunar, and Equinox, starting at $699 (approximately 5060 RMB). The package includes the device, two battery boosters, a charging pad, a charging case, a data cable, and an adapter.
The Challenges of AI Pin: Insights from Its Launch
It is worth noting that, in addition to the $699 purchase price for AI Pin, there is also a mandatory monthly subscription fee of $24 (approximately 174 RMB), which provides users with unlimited AI queries, calls, texts, and data, as well as photo and video storage. AI Pin is powered by Cosmos, a proprietary AI operating system developed by Humane that combines intelligent technology with user-friendly interaction and advanced security. The service plan offered by Humane includes a dedicated AI Pin phone number and cellular connectivity through T-Mobile.
Just from the pricing perspective, the high cost is comparable to that of a good smartphone, and the additional monthly subscription fee is also mandatory.
The Challenges of AI Pin: Insights from Its Launch

AI Pin’s technical specifications are impressive, equipped with a 13-megapixel ultra-wide camera, featuring an f/2.4 aperture and 3D depth sensing capabilities. Its innovative “laser ink display” technology allows the user interface to be projected directly onto the palm, achieving a resolution of 720p. Humane describes that AI Pin’s voice assistant Ai Mic can provide food nutrition queries, music playback—through the integrated Tidal music streaming service, and phone services and messaging using the T-Mobile network.

However, David Pierce, a journalist from The Verge, sharply criticized AI Pin after personally experiencing it, stating he does not recommend consumers purchase this product. Pierce pointed out that, although the idea behind AI Pin is intriguing, the actual experience fell far short of expectations, deeming its completion rough and unacceptable, and does not recommend anyone buy AI Pin at $699 and incur an additional $24 monthly fee.

Pierce summarized AI Pin’s advantages as its excellent manufacturing quality, high-quality photography capabilities, and more convenient access compared to smartphones. However, these advantages are overshadowed by its drawbacks: the device fails to work properly half the time, runs slowly, and lacks basic functionality. He emphasized that while he believes there will be more suitable hardware for AI applications in the future, AI Pin is not a successful case.

Pierce demonstrated the usage process of AI Pin, noting that users must touch the device to wake it up each time they use it. Although AI Pin is more convenient for tasks like taking photos than smartphones, its functionality is relatively limited, and it frequently makes errors when performing basic operations like making calls, sending texts, and playing music, with the only stable function being displaying the time.

In addition, AI Pin also faces issues with overheating and short battery life, with a fully charged battery lasting only about five hours. The palm projection display’s performance in practical use is also unsatisfactory.

In response to Pierce’s feedback, Humane’s founders stated that AI Pin will undergo a series of software updates this summer, with plans to add timer, calendar functions, and unlock more operating methods.

Despite the innovative concept of AI Pin, its actual market performance has been disappointing. Foreign media Wired and The Verge both gave low ratings, pointing out the following major issues with AI Pin:
  • Limited functionality: The initial version of AI Pin has fewer than 20 functions, making it less practical.
  • Inconsistent accuracy of responses: AI Pin relies on multiple systems based on large language models (LLM), but user feedback indicates that the accuracy of its responses is inconsistent, with long wait times.
  • Overheating and battery life issues: Users report that AI Pin starts to overheat after a short period of use, with battery life lasting only about five hours.
  • Poor projection display quality: Although AI Pin can project text onto the palm, it is difficult to see in bright light.

  • Inability to sync phone numbers: While AI Pin has a phone number, it cannot sync with existing smartphone numbers.

Well-known tech journalist Mark Gurman stated after testing that, “Whether as a replacement for smartphones or as the next generation of computers, I don’t believe AI Pin has any future.”
Francisco Jeronimo, vice president of device data and analysis at IDC, believes that whether users need a new type of hardware for AI usage has always been a controversial issue: “I think only those who do not understand how consumers use technology would believe that (AI Pin) could succeed. While these ideas have their merits, the reality is that consumers do not need these devices; they need smartphones.”

The Challenges of AI Pin: Insights from Its Launch Humane’s Response and Future Outlook The Challenges of AI Pin: Insights from Its Launch

The reason AI Pin has become a focal point is mainly due to the anticipation that it can prove two revolutionary concepts: one is the existence of a device that can truly challenge smartphones; the other is whether AI technology can give rise to a new category of hardware.
In the face of market skepticism, Sam Sheffer, Humane’s new media director, admitted that the software has not met expectations and stated that the company is listening, learning, and continuously improving. Humane co-founder Bethany Bongiorno also stated that although AI Pin is a first-generation product, all feedback will play a crucial role in product development.
AI Pin is conceptually innovative; it not only represents a leap for artificial intelligence in the hardware field but may also herald a fundamental change in human-computer interaction. Currently, AI Pin is not ready to become mainstream in the market, but its unique user interface and gesture operations suggest the potential for future human-computer interaction. Its innovative concepts and designs are worth paying attention to, and its future development remains worth anticipating.

References

https://www.theverge.com/24126502/humane-ai-pin-review
https://www.sandofsky.com/humane
https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_27034490

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The Challenges of AI Pin: Insights from Its Launch

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