Humane has killed its Ai Pin less than a year after its release

Humane’s Ai Pin is about to become an expensive brick, with the startup set to discontinue service less than a year after the wearable AI gadget began shipping. It seems the fairy tale is over, and they can no longer deny that their golden carriage is actually a rotting pumpkin.

In a post to Humane’s support website, the company announced that all of its Ai Pins will stop working in just 10 days. All Ai Pins will stop connecting to Humane’s servers on Feb. 28, and all customer data will be permanently deleted as well, with users instructed to download anything they don’t want to lose before then. Humane has also ceased selling the gadget effective immediately.

“We are writing to inform you that, effective immediately, we are winding down the consumer Ai Pin as our business priorities have shifted,” read Humane’s post. “Your engagement has meant the world to us, and we deeply appreciate the role you’ve played in our innovation journey.”

Technically, the Ai Pin won’t be completely useless. Humane notes that it will still offer offline features such as battery level. However, there’s little point in checking how much battery is left on a gadget that only tells you how much battery it has left. Any of the Ai Pin’s functions which require cloud connectivity will no longer work, including voice commands, AI responses — is basically anything you’d actually want to use the wearable for.

“We recognize that this may be an unexpected change, and we are here to support you,” wrote Humane. This help is temporary though, as customer support for the Ai Pin will also be discontinued on Feb. 28.

You may be in luck if you bought a Humane Ai Pin within the last few months. Humane states that Ai Pins which shipped on or prior to Nov. 15 are eligible for a refund, as they’ll still be within the 90-day return window. However, you must submit your refund request by Feb. 27. If you purchased the Ai Pin but it hasn’t shipped yet, you’ll be refunded and your order automatically cancelled. Humane’s mandatory subscriptions will also be automatically cancelled, with prepaid months refunded proportionately.

Unfortunately, anyone who has had their Ai Pin for longer has little recourse. Once the Ai Pins stop working, Humane advises customers to dispose of them via an e-waste recycling program.

The Ai Pin’s shutdown appears to be the result of HP acquiring “key AI capabilities” from Humane, which was also announced today. The $116 million acquisition includes Humane’s AI-powered operating system CosmOS, a swathe of intellectual property, and key technical personnel. Said employees will form HP’s new AI innovation lab HP IQ.

“Humane’s AI platform Cosmos, backed by an incredible group of engineers, will help us create an intelligent ecosystem across all HP devices from AI PCs to smart printers and connected conference rooms,” HP’s President of Technology and Innovation Tuan Tran said in a statement.

Humane’s Ai Pin struggled from the start

Credit: Humane

The Humane Ai Pin’s sad, inglorious death may be sudden, but it’s hardly a surprise. 

Initially made available for preorder in Nov. 2023, the Ai Pin aimed to supplant users’ smartphones, and could perform functions such as taking photos, answering questions, and sending messages. Designed to pin to users’ clothes, the then-$699 wearable was operated primarily via voice commands, and featured a tiny palm projector instead of a screen.

Unfortunately, issues began to arise before the Ai Pin was even released, with a promotional video showing the Ai Pin answering questions incorrectly. Though Humane quickly updated the clip, numerous other problems with the Ai Pin soon became apparent once users started getting their hands on the device in April last year. Users found the Ai Pin slow and frustrating to use, with issues ranging from broken music playback, to an unreadable projector display, to excessive heating up.

That isn’t even to mention the problems with the Ai Pin’s charging case, which was found to be a fire safety risk in June. Humane instructed its customers to stop using the charging case immediately, subsequently recalling it. Though the company initially offered replacements, in light of today’s news it will now refund users “the portion of your original purchase price that was allocated to the Charge Case” instead.

Within less than five months from Humane’s Ai Pins shipping, customers were reportedly returning the devices quicker than the company could sell them, and by October Humane had cut its price down to $499.

Humane reportedly began searching for a buyer within mere weeks of shipping the Ai Pin, aiming to sell for $750 million to $1 billion. While its $116 million deal with HP isn’t nothing, it’s still a far cry from those lofty ambitions. And though Humane was able to offload its software, it looks like HP wants nothing to do with the Ai Pin hardware.