Humane, a startup in artificial intelligence founded by former Apple designers Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, unveiled its inaugural product on Thursday—a $699 pin designed to be worn on your lapel.
The Humane AI Pin aims to replace your smartphone, offering functionalities such as making inquiries, sending messages, and searching for information using customizable tone settings. It also features a discreet light display on your hand that can show the time, date, or external surroundings.
During a 10-minute launch video on the company’s website, Chaudhri emphasized, “There are no wake words, so it isn’t continuously listening or recording.” The device remains inactive until prompted by user interaction through speech, touch, gestures, or a laser ink display.
Apart from the initial device cost, customers will need to subscribe to a $24 monthly data plan with T-Mobile, as the pin operates with its own phone number, freeing it from reliance on a smartphone like smartwatches.
Humane made waves in March by securing a \(100 million funding round from investors such as Microsoft, LG’s venture arm, and Tiger Global even before product announcements. With total funding exceeding \)200 million, notable contributions came from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff.
On November 16, Humane initiated the acceptance of commands for the AI Pin.
In their recent video presentation, Chaudhri and Bongiorno showcased the device’s capabilities, highlighting its Qualcomm-powered technology. (Qualcomm Ventures is also a backer.)
When the AI Pin’s speech and cameras are activated, an indicator light illuminates. The Humane web interface allows users to view photos and videos through double-tapping the wire.
The system can seamlessly translate spoken conversations between Spanish and English in real-time, in addition to facilitating messaging exchanges.
Users can leverage AI services directly from the web instead of relying on downloaded apps, with major players like Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI contributing. Subscribers can request tasks like “play songs from famous sci-fi movies” or seek information, all powered by extensive language models. Access to music services requires a Tidal subscription.
Moreover, the device’s assistant can provide health updates, nutritional information, and the user’s daily schedule, such as tracking protein intake.
