Humane AI Pin

Submission 7,838

Part of a series on AI / Artificial Intelligence. [View Related Entries]

About

Humane AI Pin is a wearable personal assistant that acts as a phone replacement without a screen, which is powered by artificial intelligence and developed by former Apple employees. The system allows you to interact with it through voice and a small projector displays things like media controls and incoming calls in the palm of your hand. The gadget was first revealed in April 2023 by co-founder Imran Chaudhri and, in November 2023, the company announced the device would start shipping in early 2024 with preorders already available on the website. Following the preorder announcement in late November 2023, the product notably inspired a meme format on social media in which people edited the text displayed on the person's palm to show humorous responses.

History

Rumors about Humane's^[1] new developing product started to appear in June 2022. The company, which was created in 2017 by 60 former Apple employees, kept its work more or less under wraps, hardly releasing any product or statement until June 13th, 2022, when YouTuber^[2] @samsheffer revealed some inside information about the Humane AI Pin, which he wrote in the video's title as a "Secret Tech Product Poised to Change the World." The video (shown below) investigated Humane's employees and several other pieces of public information in which the creator deducted what would become their new product. The video garnered over 313,000 views and 10,000 likes in a year.

On April 21st, 2023, Humane cofounder Imran Chaudhri shared a first look at the yet-to-be-released AR / AI Humane Ai Pin device. The reveal occurred in a TED Talk event, which was uploaded on YouTube^[3] by user @tech.teardown, garnering more than 20,000 views and 188 likes in six months (seen below).

Features

The Humane Ai Pin acts as a phone replacement without a screen, projecting a small display onto the palm of your hand that can be controlled with hand and finger gestures (examples shown below). The gadget^[4] is also using OpenAI's model to handle search and task-handling through voice command, similar to ChatGPT's feature.

In a promotional video shared on X^[5] by Humane on November 9th, 2023, the gadget's computer vision is used by a woman to look up how much sugar is in a dragon fruit to see whether it meets her dietary goals. The post (shown below) amassed roughly 859,000 views and 3,400 likes in two weeks.

Highlights

On November 16th, 2023, the Humane AI Pin started its pre-order release, priced at $699, with a subscription model for added services. That same day, the company also released a promotional video^[6] about the gadget (shown below), amassing roughly 33,000 views and 1,300 likes in two days.

MKBHD's Humane AI Pin Review

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 Marquese Brownlee's influential position in tech on social media.

Meme Reactions

The product preorder announcement in late November 2023 notably inspired a series of jokes and memes on social media. On Glif, a website that offers a variety of AI art generators, several users uploaded some of the Humane Ai Pin promotional images. For instance, on November 19th, 2023, Glif user @Edward-95da9db9f9^[7] uploaded a version of the meme in which he asks the tool to feed their dog, to which the wearable responds "Dog accidentally eats poisonous chocolate, rushed to emergency vet" (seen below, left).

On November 18th, Glif user @Venom^[8] used the meme template to share a version in which he asked the device to play the Five Nights at Freddy's game, which is replied with "Five Nights at Freddy's animatronics invade your home" (seen below, right).