There’s a startup in San Francisco called Humane (or rather, hu.ma.ne if you go by the official logo and domain name), and today it unveiled the first product it’s working on. It’s called Ai Pin and it seems to answer the following question that no one has asked: What if it was almost a smartphone, but without a screen and attached to your shirt? Oh, and with artificial intelligence!
And that’s what it is. A quirky, silly-looking pin that you put on your t-shirt, hoodie, blazer or whatever, and wear all day. It’s not meant to blend in at all, with a “look at me!” design that could polarize people who don’t live in Silicon Valley.
Let’s now find out what it can do. It takes 13MP photos (video coming soon) and sends messages, and comes with an AI virtual assistant powered by Microsoft and OpenAI technology. We’re sure that public speaking with a weird-looking pin on your shirt will be all the rage.
Thankfully, it features Bluetooth, so you can choose not to use the “personal speaker” which “creates a bubble of sound, offering intimacy and volume as needed” – simply plug in your headphones and prevent everyone around you from inadvertently being captured . that bubble.
You can “speak to it naturally” and its Ai Mic “powers search and quickly finds and contextualizes what you’re looking for.” Additionally, AI-powered messaging “can create messages with your tone of voice,” and the Catch Me Up feature “sorts through the noise in your inbox.”
AI-powered music experiences “come to life through a partnership with Tidal,” while “AI-powered photography helps you capture and remember important memories.” Ai Pin can also act as an interpreter of your foreign language and even support your nutritional goals by identifying food using computer vision.
The Ai Pin runs Cosmos, Humane’s operating system “for the age of artificial intelligence,” which has no apps but combines “intelligent technologies with intuitive interaction and advanced security.” The Ai Pin “quickly understands what you need” and instantly connects you to the right AI experience or service.
Before you scream “but the battery lasts!”, keep in mind that it’s not always listening. Instead, to activate it, you have to tap and drag on its touchpad, at which point a “Trust Light” (yes, that’s what it’s called) will flash to let you and those around you know that that strange thing attached to your shirt is collecting data. It also has a laser, which projects objects onto your hand – it’s a makeshift solution that should alleviate the lack of a screen.
The Pin AI comes in three colors: Eclipse, Equinox and Lunar, weighs 34g and has a “booster battery” accessory, because of course it does, which adds another 20g. You can hot-swap multiple boosters as they attach magnetically to the Ai Pin and charge it wirelessly.
The Ai Pin is powered by an unknown Snapdragon SoC and costs $699 upfront for the device itself and two charging batteries, plus a $24-per-month subscription that provides a phone number and data coverage through T-Mobile. The AI Pin will ship early next year and pre-orders will begin on November 16th.
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