Marques Brownlee's Humane AI Pin Review

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Part of a series on Humane AI Pin. [View Related Entries]

Overview

Marques Brownlee's Humane AI Pin Review refers to a controversy surrounding YouTuber Marques Brownlee's (also known as MKBHD) review of Humane AI Pin, a wearable personal assistant device. The unfavorable review was followed by a viral discussion and multiple memes about Marques Brownlee's influential position in tech on social media.

Background

On April 14th, 2024, YouTuber^[1] Marques "MKBHD" Brownlee reviewed Humane AI Pin, a wearable personal assistant device that is able to analyze a person's surroundings and provide information on them in real time. The 25-minute-long unfavorable review, in which Marques Brownlee called the product "the worst product I've ever reviewed," garnered over 3.6 million views in two days (shown below).

On the same day, Brownlee made a post about the review on X^[2] / Twitter, where it gained over 9.3 million views, 1,700 reposts and 21,000 likes in two days.

On April 15th, X^[3] user @dvassallo posted a screenshot of Brownlee's review, writing that he found it "distasteful, almost unethical, to say this when you have 18 million subscribers." The post (shown below) garnered over 3,000 reposts and quotes and 11,000 likes in one day.

Later on April 15th, 2024, Marques Brownlee replied^[4] to the post, writing, "We disagree on what my job is."

Online Reactions

The post sparked a viral discussion about Marques Brownlee's review of Humane AI Pin and his influence as a tech YouTuber. On April 15th, 2024, X^[5] user @Carnage4Life quoted @dvassallo post, defending Brownlee and arguing that he was in the right to inform potential buyers of the product's flaws. The post received over 2,300 reposts and 27,000 likes in one day (shown below, left).

Later that day, X^[6] user @anothercohen wrote, "Fellas, is it unethical to be honest?" The post (shown below, right), which referenced the Fellas, Is It Gay meme, gained over 3,900 reposts and 98,000 likes in one day.

The discussion was accompanied by memes about the controversy and about MKBHD's influential status as a reviewer. On April 15th, 2024, X^[7] user @RealYouTubeKids posted an
It's My IP To Sit On and Do Nothing With meme that gained over 1,200 reposts and 27,000 likes in one day (shown below, left). On April 15th, X^[8] user @wesamo__ posted a You're Laughing meme that received over 540 reposts and 12,000 likes in the same timeframe (shown below, right).

The debate maintained virality through mid-April 2024.