Earlier this year, Humane was one promising AI clothing startup aim to create a device that would replace the smartphone. He got up over 200 million dollars from big names including Microsoft, OpenAI CEO Sam AltmanAND Salesforce CEO Marc Benioffto develop a device that can make phone calls, send texts, answer questions and translate from one language to another. The Pin has a laser projector that beams a screen into your palm, which can then be manipulated by a user tilting their palm or pinching their index finger and thumb together.
Hers husband-wife co-foundersImran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno have strong credentials as former Apple directors of design and software engineering, respectively. Chaudhri first offered a sneak peek at Ai Pin during a May 2023 TED Talk which has been viewed nearly two million times.
Now, more customers are returning Humane's flagship product, the $699 Ai Pin, than buying it.
Related: This futuristic alternative to wearable smartphones projects a screen into your palm
Humane Ai Pin screen. Credit: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg via Getty Images
threshold internal data obtained Wednesday showing that Humane's lifetime sales of $9 million of Ai Pin have been dwarfed by $1 million in returned products since the products were launched in April. From May to August, within two months of release, more Ai points were returned than purchased, according to the data.
What went wrong with Ai Pin?
Despite a promising start, and a call as one of the TIME's best inventions of 2023That Pin promised features it didn't quite deliver, according to early reviews.
YouTube tech reviewer Marques Brownlee, who has close to 20 million subscribers, said the pin was “worst product i have ever reviewedBrownlee said he took a long time to answer questions and often got things wrong. He said he also got very hot from time to time, misheard her more than once, and felt like “a warm ball in his chest,” which was evident throughout. day.
Victoria's song The Verge tried the translation feature and found that he could not translate simple phrases in Japanese and Korean.
Engadget's Cherlynn Low noticed that when she tried to take many picturesthe device would overheat and shut down because it was overloaded. Low also said that on a cloudy and rainy day, she couldn't read the screen on her palm.
Humane He Drinks. Credit: Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images.
If a customer returns a pin, Humane can't resell it as a refurbished product, The Verge reports, because of a T-Mobile restriction that ties one device to one person.
About 10,000 pins have been sold so far this year, falling short of Humane's 100,000 goal for this year, for New York Times.