Humane Aiming For $1 Billion Sale After Bumpy Ai Pin Launch
Humane Inc., the maker of Ai Pin, a screenless wearable powered by artificial intelligence, is reportedly looking to sell its business for $750 million to $1 billion.
Humane was valued at $850 million in 2023 but potential takers may revisit the valuation as performance issues have taken points away from the launch product’s futuristic billing.
“The company is working with a financial adviser to assist it,” Bloomberg reported yesterday, citing inside sources. “The process is still early and may not result in a deal.”
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Ai Pin ‘Broken in So Many Ways’
Humane was formed in 2018 by Apple veterans and spouses, Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno. The start-up has raised $230 million from investors including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Humane’s flagship product, Ai Pin, debuted to unfavorable reviews a few weeks back. One reviewer who tested the pin for two weeks concluded that “Ai Pin is an interesting idea that is so thoroughly unfinished and so totally broken in so many unacceptable ways.”
The $699 gadget was first announced in November and started shipping in early April. Billed as the post-smartphone future, Ai Pin is a computer that is magnetically worn into the user’s clothing and projected to the palm rather than having a screen.
Its novel features include a heavy role for the voice command, real-time translation, holding up objects, using gestures and weighing the nutritional content in the user’s hands – a feature that is set to extend to other uses.
The Ai Pin comes with two battery boosters, a charging pad, a charging case, a cable and an adapter. It runs on a Snapdragon processor and an AI model powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 technology.
Critics Question Humane’s Valuation
According to Humane, the pin is meant to help people improve their productivity, using hands-free voice commands to make calls, send texts, or access information from the internet.
The San Francisco-based company’s selling point is a disruptive proposition in an artificial intelligence hardware space in its early phase.
Following the Ai Pin’s public launch in April, critics started to question the $750 million to $1 billion asking price for a “broken pin” with “underbaked hardware” and “unresponsive software.”
“Using the Ai Pin feels like wishing on a star: you just close your eyes and hope for the best. Most of the time, nothing happens,” said The Verge’s editor-at-large David Pierce, who tested the pin.
Humane said it is improving areas such as battery life, device overheating, accuracy and response time. Last week, the company upgraded the product’s AI wiring with the GPT-4o model.
Also read: Humane Ai Pin’s Stumbles: A Catalyst for Apple’s Innovation Strategy
The wearable does not allow users to use existing phone numbers, coming with a unique phone number and cellular coverage from T-Mobile at a monthly subscription of $24. Wireless connectivity is provided by Humane’s mobile virtual network operator.
Cryptopolitan Reporting by Jeffrey Gogo
