To paraphrase a famous saying: Hardware is hard. First-generation products of new startups are notorious for being like that, no matter how much money and excitement they muster. With all this in mind, few will be surprised that Humane's upcoming Ai Pin has been pushed back a bit from his March date to “mid-April.” new video From Sam Shaffer, head of media for a Bay Area startup.
In a Sorkin-style walk and talk, he explained that the first units are scheduled to “start leaving the factory at the end of March.” If Humane meets that deadline, “priority access” customers will begin receiving their units sometime in mid-April. Meanwhile, the remaining pre-orders are expected to arrive “soon.”
Humane captured quite a bit of tech buzz long before its first product was announced, thanks to its founder's Apple days and suitably cryptic pre-launch videos. Ai Pin was finally announced at his event in San Francisco in early November, where we got to spend some slightly controlled hands-on time with the wearable.
The device is the first notable example of a trend that's set to grow in the consumer hardware world as more startups seek to leverage the hot world of generative AI into new form factors. Humane is positioning its product as the next step in a field that has been obsessed with smartphone form factors for more than a decade.
Image credits: humanitarian
Of course, this year is almost certainly also the year of the “AI smartphone.” That is, a terminal that leverages his GPT model of platforms from companies such as OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft to bring new ways to interact with consumer devices. Meanwhile, startup Rabbit made waves at his CES last month with its unique take on generative AI-first consumer devices.
Humane, for its part, has contributed significantly to this release. The company has raised about $230 million to date, including a $100 million Series C last year. There's a lot to be said for delaying a product until consumers are ready. Early adopters have some familiarity with first-generation bugs, but such patience always has limits. At least a product like this should do most of what it's supposed to do most of the time.
During CES, the company announced that it had laid off 10 employees, representing 10% of its workforce. That's not a huge number for a startup of that size, but when it happens for a well-funded company at a time when it needs to demonstrate confidence to consumers, investors, etc., it's quite remarkable. To do.
Ai Pin is available for pre-order now for $699. Those who do so by March 31st will receive three months of free subscription service for the $24/month device.