No surprise there. Can’t imagine what these bozos were thinking let alone wanting to charge an absurd monthly fee.

I don’t often actively root for tech to fail. Even if it’s something g dumb, it can pave the road for something down the road. However, I’m here for the failure of this because it’s been so nebulous.

I don’t know how to explain it, but this kind of feels like when people were trying to make products where the main hook was blockchain and they seemed to have worked backwards from the tech to a product to the problem being the last thing considered.

As far as I can tell, the only advantage this thing has that a smarter smart watch can provide is taking photos and videos. So maybe there is something there that is worth exploring. Who knows, maybe if apple or Google released this with robust integration and a reasonable price, maybe it could have some potential to have a use case. Maybe GoPro might want to explore the form factor? All that said, none of the things that I think have potential has nothing to do with AI which is what they think is feature #1.

Who is this product for, outside of lunatics who are already convinced AI will replace everything in their life?

Hahaha $24 per month. That’s three times what I spend on my phone bill. Hahahahaha

So it’s the Star Trek Communicator but can’t do what it does, and what it does do isn’t very good at it.

I like that “AI Pin” sounds like “Aipim” in Portuguese which means cassava.

That’s all I like about this product. Everything else I profoundly dislike.

They’ve been over-promising on this product for more than ten years now. I remember watching promotional videos no later than 2013 for this exact product under the same Humane name. It’s honestly kind of impressive that they kept their over-promising in lock-step with the progression of technology.

Still, even after all this frustration, after spending hours standing in front of restaurants tapping my chest and whispering questions that go unanswered, I find I want what Humane is selling even more than I expected. A one-tap way to say, “Text Anna and tell her I’ll be home in a half-hour,” or “Remember to call Mike tomorrow afternoon,” or “Take a picture of this and add it to my shopping list” would be amazing. I hadn’t realized how much of my phone usage consists of these one-step things, all of which would be easier and faster without the friction and distraction of my phone.

But the AI Pin doesn’t work. I don’t know how else to say it.

Upshot: intriguing category, half-baked device. Even worse when considering the cost.

This group of devices feels like it should absolutely start out as a slight tweak of watch hardware and the rest of the R&D should be improving the phone’s AI assistant capabilities. Until it’s ready to replace the phone, it won’t, so build toward a future where people will accept it once it’s technically feasible.

Five to ten seconds wait for a voice command kills any chance for this being a viable product. If they can’t bring down the response turnaround time to two or three seconds, this product is dead on arrival. It’s not worth discussing anything else until they can do that.

Different strokes for different folks but I wouldn’t want a voice-controlled “smart” brooch if it was free and worked flawlessly.

It also seems like it should be a Bluetooth phone accessory that cost $99 or whatever. I wear a smartwatch so still not for me but maybe if they made it stylish (or just less conspicuous and geeky), it could fill a gap in the market? Some of my friends wear traditional fashion watches, bracelets, etc. and usually leave their phone in their purse. They might like the form factor as a way to stay minimally connected in case the baby sitter calls or whatever.

Watching the video showed me just how half-baked this product is. So many basic features are not supported yet. It’s honestly laughable. The tech industry keeps pushing the envelope on how soon they can “sell” you any type of hardware with unfinished software.