Look, I'm as suspicious of humane AI pins as the next person. And I still think this wearable AI-powered assistant suffers from the problem of being an app. But this morning, I finally got to spend some time with Pin. It's a very cool gadget. It's buried under such a thick layer of marketing that it's hard to see what could actually happen if Humane wasn't so serious.
If you spend time on things like Tech Threads, you already know what pins do. Clip the pin to your shirt, talk to it, and it will respond using generative AI. This is a standalone device with its own SIM card, there is no screen, only a vibrator. That, and a tiny laser that projects menus and text into your palm, lets you do deadly tricks like Wi-Fi settings and media playback controls.
I reiterated this idea as I watched several Humane employees run various demos, and the idea was to be able to stay connected even after a brief power outage; It means you can stare less and live more in the moment. AI retrieves relevant information from your calendar and email, and answers questions when you're curious about the world around you.
That's all very nice, but let's be real. This is a gadget, not a philosophy. Gadgets can be fun, useful, and frustrating. And all of the above seems to apply to the Humane pin.
The AI pins were really impressive at times.there is When prompted, the Vision feature uses a camera to scan the scene in front of you, analyze what's there, and describe it out loud. I stood in front of a Humane spokesperson to test this feature out, and frankly, it clicked.explained Mobile World Congress as “an indoor event or exhibition where people walk around.” Easy enough.
But it also pointed out the Qualcomm name on the sign behind me and apparently read the badge around my neck, identifying me as a “U.S. lanyard person.” . The Verge” That was one too many, but considering I wasn’t standing close to the pins and the lighting was dim, it was pretty impressive.
Gesture navigation was also impressive, being smoother and more responsive than I expected. It's difficult to get into the right spot to project the laser onto your own hand, since you're not allowed to pin it yourself and it's actually a single-user his device. I tried. But the several Humanage employees who were demoing the product were clearly so adept at using it that all they had to do was tilt their hand and tap his two fingers at the same time to open the projected menu. It was quick and easy to operate.
But this pin isn't immune to what gadgets often do: annoy users. Because most of the AI is off-device, it's unaffected by spotty convention center connections and takes seconds to wait for a response to a request or question. And on one occasion, it briefly displayed a notification that it had overheated and needed to cool down, then shut down. The employee who demoed the pin for me said that this doesn't happen often and that it probably happened due to continued use of the laser for demonstration purposes. I believe so, but still, this is a device that is meant to be placed next to your chest and go out with you into different environments, including perhaps warm ones. Isn't it amazing!
The laser projection is sharper than I expected, but it's still essentially light projected into the palm of my hand. The hands are not evenly flat and it is difficult to keep them completely still. It's not difficult to read, as the text seems to be dancing in front of your eyes. teeth It's more difficult than reading text on a smartphone, for example.
It's also impossible to understand what it feels like to live with things in the halls of a convention center. Can a cotton shirt support that weight? How visible is the laser outdoors in direct sunlight? Will people understand why the “light of trust” lights up?Does Ping sometimes make things up, like some AIs do? I have more questions than answers, but I think there's at least more to it than that. zero This is the answer I saw with my own eyes.
My first impression of the pin was something It's there but it's not of thing. And the problem is that Humane's entire marketing… case. This, for Pete's sake, was first introduced in a TED talk. It's like ground zero for people who take themselves too seriously. Humane's Sai Kambampati told me that the AI Pin is not intended as a smartphone replacement. However, it requires its own data connection, its own monthly subscription fee, and its own smartphone-like price of $699. and it is… do not have Need to replace your mobile phone?
Whatever lies ahead for us in mobile computing, it feels like it's going to look very different from the AI pins we saw demonstrated today. There's a lot more I'd like to test once the pins officially arrive in April. During that time, I couldn't see into the future exactly, but I did see some really cool gadgets. Just don't take it too seriously.
Photo by Alison Johnson/The Verge