Humane, we hardly knew ye

Humane AI is going b-AI b-AI. The once-buzzy hardware startup announced its wearable Pins will stop working for good on February 28, and the rest of the company’s assets will be sold to HP for $116 million.

What HP is getting: Humane’s CosmOS, which the startup in recent months has been positioning as an AI operating system for devices.

It’ll also absorb Humane’s engineers and product managers. This team will lead a new group within HP called HP IQ, dedicated to helping integrate AI into the company’s personal computers, printers, and connected conference rooms.

The launch…and crash

After raising $230+ million from investors including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Humane debuted its wearable AI Pin in April 2024, which it lauded as a smartphone replacement.

From there, things went about as well as Alexander’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

• The AI Pin’s reviews following its launch were scathing: The Verge’s David Pierce said that “it just doesn’t work,” and mega-YouTuber MKBHD called it "the worst product I’ve ever reviewed."
• By August, daily product returns were outpacing sales, according to The Verge.

In the know: Humane reportedly started looking for a buyer shortly after the launch of the AI Pin. The price it was seeking? ~$1 billion.

🐇 Meanwhile…Rabbit, another AI device startup, is still kicking. The company published a blog post and video yesterday showing off a “generalist Android agent”...very…slowly…controlling apps on a tablet.