Is Humane's AI Pin Today's General Magic?
Humane's AI pin has landed and reviewers are not pulling punches - but what can history tell us about the future of the company?
The highly anticipated Humane’s AI Pin was delivered to customers this week, after its announcement in November 2023.
Since the product was released, reviewers have been sharing their strong opinions on it. This is not the first time however that former Apple employees have released products that were not well received. The engineering behind the AI Pin is impressive but integrating the product into everyday life has been under scrutiny.
The AI pin is in its early stages, but what does history tell us about the future of the device?
What is Humane’s AI Pin?
The AI pin is a screenless hardware device that clips onto a user's clothing, using a magnetic battery pack, and acts as a wearable companion.
Credit: Amelia Holowaty Krales, The Verge
It is multi-modal, featuring a camera, microphone, touch-pad and has a laser projector that displays information onto the user's outstretched hand.
The device operates entirely independently of a smartphone, and uses AI via the cloud to answer questions you throw at it using speech and showing it anything in front of you with its camera. It can also record images and videos for later use which can be accessed through a web portal - not a mobile app.
The device can detect the depth of field of your hand, and impressively, this is exactly how you can interact with the projected “screen”. Unlocking your AI pin with your hand involves tilting your hand in the direction of numbers in your pin code for example. An example of the screen is shown below (credit for photo to Allison Johnson, The Verge).
It is important to note that not having an accompanying app, as well as having its own SIM card, imply strongly that Humane intentionally plans for the AI pin to be a successor or replacement to the smartphone.
How Has it Been Received?
Anyone reading this who has followed the AI pin’s announcement and release, has no-doubt heard the scathing reviews it’s received.
Arguably the most well-known tech-reviewer, Marques Brownlee (with 18.7 million YouTube subscribers at the time of writing this) made a comprehensive review of the device, hilarious titled “The Worst Product I’ve Ever Reviewed…For Now”.
The video, its thumbnail and title came under a lot of fire, for potentially damaging the company’s chance at success - in response Marquees released a video defending his position as a reviewer.
The review however is a good comprehensive analysis and review, and I recommend watching it for a solid overview of the product.
Criticisms from reviewers generally have included:
The steep $699 starting price, and subsequent subscription fee
The magnetic wireless battery pack although impressive, causes heat around the region it attaches to the users clothing
The time taken for the device to answer a question is too long
The device has its own SIM card, so sending texts and receiving calls cannot be done on your own number
As it does not connect to your smartphone, so any application you’re used to using, like Uber or literally anything else cannot be accessed using the device
Who Are the Founders?
The founders are husband and wife team Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, who both met while working at Apple on the iPad.
Credit: humane.com/story
Bethany Bongiorno was a Director of Software Engineering at Apple, and led software project management for macOS and iOS. Bongiorno played a key part in the launch of the original iPad and prior to joining Apple had a background in astrophysics as well as working as a data management and software development consultant.
Imran Chaudri joined Apple in 1995 originally as an intern, subsequently having a 19-year career as a designer at the company. He designed features for most Apple products during his time there, as well as being credited as an inventor on Apple patents such as a touch screen.
At first glance, it is clear a lot of Apple’s DNA is present in the AI Pin’s look and feel.
General Magic - Has this Happened Before?
In 1992, a company that could be considered an Apple spin-off, founded by Bill Atkinson, Andy Hertzfeld and Marc Porat began operating in stealth after their project had not progressed when operating within Apple.
Their aim was to develop the future of technology, a lot of which we can see forms of day-to-day today in the smartphone.
Their main product was Magic Cap, an operating system that allowed people to carry out wireless communication in ways that would empower the user. This operating system would run on personal digital assistants (PDAs) for professional use, and have a UI framework allowing people to access different features in different “rooms”.
The Magic Cap was implemented on Sony and Motorola hardware, released in 1994 and 1995 respectively, however the launch under performed, due to a lack of supporting technology infrastructure.
The MagicLink PDA by Sony, running the Magic Cap OS. Image by Josh Carter
At the time, Apple’s Newton MessagePads, and other PDAs that were introduced during that time, did not support handwriting recognition, making them an inferior option for buyers of the technology at the time.
The Apple Newton MessagePad 100. Image by Rama & Musée Bolo
Despite having a huge buzz and backed by huge names including Sony, Motorola, Matsushita, Philips and AT&T Corporation, General Magic ultimately failed due to what the market truly wanted at the time, and what technology infrastructure around it allowed it to achieve.
General Magic’s engineering was ahead of its time - responsible for breakthroughs considered precursors to USB,integrated systems-on-a-chip (SoC) designs for partner devices, cloud technology and touchscreen computing.
General magic is an essential case study for incredible engineering, at potentially the wrong time for success. Many of their team went on to be trail blazers in their field including:
Kevin Lynch, worked as the CTO of Adobe, developed the Apple Watch, currently VP of Technology at Apple
Megan Smith, General manager of Google.org, VP at Google X, CTO of USA Assistant to President Barack Obama
Tony Fadell, Creator of the iPod, co-create the iPhone and founded Nest. He also wrote Build, which is a book I recommend reading for anyone in startups, hardware development, or product design. I reviewed it my article “The Best Startup Books You've Never Heard Of".
The two companies have impressive technology in common, however General Magic clearly pioneered technology in ways that were not seen previously.
Voice, cloud computing, AI, wireless charging are all technologies we see currently. The innovation AI Pin has is aimed less in developing new technology, and more in creating new user experiences by combining technologies that are available for companies to use today.
It should be noted however, that the company began in 2018 in stealth and in a world prior to ChatGPT’s success, a device like the AI Pin’s could certainly have been considered innovative.
This is worth remembering as in March 2023, it was announced that Microsoft and OpenAI had formed a partnership with Humane - which could have accelerated development or the mass adoption of AI and large-language models could have put pressure on a release before features were ready.
Overall, General Magic and Humane have in common a device with impressive engineering features, but released at a time when people may not have been ready. Where they differ however is that General Magic created technology that can be considered precursors to what we have now, and have a strong alumni that have shaped the world of tech in several different avenues. Humane, could well have intended to pioneer AI, however what they have achieved so far is to challenge how we can use AI and language in a world without smartphones.
Does Humane Deserve Credit?
Although the product itself has fallen short of being usable day-to-day, it is one of the few challengers to mobile technology.
Image by Allison Johnson, The Verge
For years, smartphone technology, and hardware products in general have not changed significantly in design or user experience, and Humane have made a strong effort to do so.
Rabbit is a company looking to make similar challenges to the AI Pin but in a different way. Rabbit’s R1 - announced in January this year at CES 2024 is a retro themed device that users speak into, has a camera and uses a Large Action Model (LAM) to carry out tasks.
The Rabbit R1. Image by John Kim, CNET
In collaboration with design firm Teenage Engineering, Its biggest difference is that it interacts with users’ mobile apps directly - which is enough to make it seem a superior AI companion to the AI Pin as it can leverage the app ecosystem it already has, rather than try to establish itself as a standalone device.
The device runs the Linux-based - RabbitOS and leverages large-action-model (LAM) technology to carry out tasks we already do on our smartphones and has a retro design, courtesy of their designers Teenage Engineering.
Challenging smartphones is something that’s needed, as using a phone now, can be as much about content consumption as it is about utility. Social media is designed to form addictive habits for people, and the days of using a phone simply to contact people seem like a long time ago.
Phone addiction is something that affects a lot of people, and there’s a brilliant community of people on the subreddit r/dumbphones that use single-purpose hardware products, including a non-smartphone. Although I do not do this myself, reading the subreddit was really refreshing. Whether it was Humane’s noble mission or not, prioritising utility and limiting consumption in mobile technology, is something they should receive credit for.
Both Rabbit’s R1 and Humane’s AI Pin feel like refreshing challenges to an otherwise saturated market. Although Humane looks to have fallen short of convincing the tech community of their viability, they deserve respect for making a challenge in space.
What’s Next for AI Hardware?
Humane created a road map for their products, and although the reception of their first product may have hindered their expectations, it will be interesting to keep an eye on.
Previous startups built by Apple alumni have not always grasped what users are ready for, or delivered products that are technically ready.
Humane and Rabbit are companies looking to be leveraging AI for new interactions with hardware - even earlier this week, Limitless AI announced their voice recording wearable device. This is clearly leading to a new wave of hardware originality, which is exciting to see.
Limitless AI’s wearable pendent, image from Limitless AI.
Smartwatches take a similar form factor to the AI Pin and R1, so it will be interesting to see if they have a more prominent role in the technology ecosystem. For good or bad, this could be how big tech companies respond, as smartwatches from them already exist - implementing AI voice technology into small form factor devices could be how they move forward, if people take to voice controlled devices.
References and Additional Reading
Looking up all of the stories and background to the info was a lot of fun - here are the resources I found interesting for anyone who wants to dig deeper into any area.