There's a startup in San Francisco called Humane (or rather, hu.ma.ne if you go by the official logo and domain name), and today it's unveiled the first product it's been working on. It's called Ai Pin and seems to answer the following question that no one asked: What if almost a smartphone, but with no screen and attached to your shirt? Oh, and with AI! And that's what it is. A honky, dorky-looking pin you put on your shirt or hoodie or blazer or whatever, and wear all day. It's not meant to blend in at all, with a "look at me!" design that may polarize people who don't live in Silicon Valley.
Let's now discover what it can do. It
takes 13 MP photos (videos coming soon) and sends texts, and comes with an AI
virtual assistant that is based on Microsoft and OpenAI tech. We're sure that
talking to a weird looking pin on your shirt in public is going to be all the
rage. Thankfully, it has Bluetooth so you can choose not to employ the
"personic speaker" which "creates a bubble of sound, offering both
intimacy and volume as needed" - please just connect headphones to it and
spare everyone around you from being inadvertently caught in that bubble.
You can "speak to it naturally",
and its Ai Mic "supercharges search and quickly finds and contextualizes
what you're looking for". Furthermore, AI-powered messaging "can
craft messages in your tone of voice', and a Catch Me Up function "sorts
through the noise in your inbox". AI-powered music experiences "come
to life through a partnership with Tidal", while "the AI-powered
photographer helps you capture and recall important memories". Ai Pin can
also act as your foreign language interpreter and even support your nutrition
goals by identifying food using computer vision.
The Ai Pin runs Cosmos, Humane's OS
"for the AI era", which has no apps but blends "intelligent
technologies with intuitive interaction and advanced security". The Ai Pin
"quickly understands what you need" and then connects you to the
right AI experience or service instantly. Before you scream "but battery life!",
note that it's not always listening. Instead, in order to activate it, you need
to tap and drag on its touchpad, at which point a "Trust Light" (yes,
it's really called that) will blink to let you and everyone around you know
that the weird thing attached to your shirt is collecting data. It's also got a
laser, that projects stuff on your hand - it's a makeshift solution that is
supposed to alleviate its lack of a screen.
The AI Pin comes in three colors -
Eclipse, Equinox, and Lunar, weighs 34g, and has a "battery booster"
accessory, because of course it does, which adds another 20g. Multiple boosters
can be hot swapped as they connect magnetically to the Ai Pin and wirelessly
charge it. The Ai Pin is powered by an unknown Snapdragon SoC, and costs US$ 699
upfront for the device itself and two battery boosters, plus a US$ 24 per month
subscription that gives it a phone number and data coverage through T-Mobile.
The AI Pin will ship early next year and pre-orders start on November 16.
