HP has announced that it is acquiring the assets of Humane for $116 million.
Humane announced its “AI Pin” in November 2023, with a price tag of $699. Promoted as a replacement for smartphones, the device worked with voice commands via OpenAI’s GPT-4. A miniature laser projector allowed information to be displayed on the user’s hand.
Flopped gadget
Unfortunately, the device did not catch on. There was nothing the pin could do that most smartphones couldn’t do either, and it only worked with a $24-a-month subscription. HP is now acquiring the technology from Humane. At issue is the AI-powered platform Cosmos and intellectual property with more than 300 patents and patent applications. HP wants to become a more experiential company with this.
“This investment will rapidly accelerate our ability to develop a new generation of devices that seamlessly orchestrate AI requests both locally and in the cloud,” Tuan Tran, president of technology and innovation at HP, said in a statement. “Humane’s AI platform Cosmos will help us create an intelligent ecosystem for all HP devices, from AI PCs to smart printers to connected meeting rooms. This will deliver on the promises of AI.”
As of Feb. 28, the AI Pin devices are unusable because they can no longer access Humane’s servers.