Humane’s AI Pin, a $700 wearable device once hailed as a futuristic innovation, ended up being the butt of every tech joke in 2024 for how bad and stupid it was. Despite this “rocky” debut, the technology behind it has somehow managed to find a new lease on life. HP, in their infinite wisdom, recently announced it has acquired a number of key assets from Humane, including its AI platform, technical talent, and a trove of intellectual property, signaling a bold move to integrate advanced AI into its own product lineup.
For those that don’t remember Humane’s AI Pin was a small wearable gadget that was designed to be a voice-powered wearable companion. User would simply pin the device to clothing and use features like document scanning, real-time translation, and even a built-in projector called “laser ink” that could beam information onto surfaces like the user’s hand. Humane pitched it as a revolutionary way to interact with technology—hands-free and always accessible. And none of it worked very well, if at all.
The New York Times would eventually uncover during reporting that Humane was aware of significant flaws before the product even hit the market and pushed through regardless. These “challenges” ultimately cemented the AI Pin’s reputation as a commercial flop leading it to become one of the largest failed AI products of the year. And that’s saying a lot as we could list a number of other similar failed products from the same year.
But despite how badly the Humane AI Pin failed, and how much of a joke it became, Humane’s technology managed to catch the attention of HP. The tech giant recently announced an agreement to acquire Humane’s AI-powered platform for $116 million, along with its team of engineers and a portfolio of patents and patent applications. This acquisition is a strategic step in HP’s broader plan to leverage AI to enhance its range of future failed devices, from PCs and printers to smart conference room systems.
“This acquisition will help us create an intelligent ecosystem across all HP devices […] From AI-powered PCs to smart printers and connected conference rooms, we’re unlocking new levels of functionality for our customers and delivering on the promise of AI.”
While the acquisition makes some sense as HP hasn’t innovated in ages and it’s much easier to buy into a trend instead of taking a financial risk in creating something new and in-house. HP will need to somehow integrate Humane’s technology into its existing product line and ensure that its AI-driven innovations are reliable. We can’t wait until our printer yells at us about some problem! Barely working printers paired with broken AI technology means higher prices on worse tech!
This acquisition of Humane is a bet on the future without doing the work to create said future. Whether it pays off will depend on how well HP can turn Humane’s vision into things its customers want/need, or if they simply implement it into products in order to justify a price increase.
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