 | |
| Founded | 2018 |
|---|---|
| Founder |
|
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, US |
| Products | Ai Pin |
Number of employees | 200 |
| Website | humane |
Humane Inc. (stylized as hu.ma.ne [1] ) is an American consumer electronics company founded in 2018 by Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno. [2] [3] The company designed and developed the Ai Pin, which started shipping in April 2024 but received poor reviews. [4]
Humane was founded by Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno [5] in 2018; the couple previously worked at Apple Inc. [3] The startup emerged from stealth mode in 2021. [6] [7]
By November 2023, the company had raised $230 million, [8] with notable investors such as Marc Benioff, Sam Altman, Tiger Global, SoftBank, Qualcomm, Microsoft, LG, Volvo, and Salesforce. Microsoft and OpenAI also announced partnerships with Humane. [9]
In January 2024, the company laid off 4% of its staff (10 employees). [10]
On May 22, 2024, Bloomberg reported news that Humane was seeking a buyer for its business, initially considering offers in the $750 million to $1 billion range. [11] The New York Times reported that Humane had been in talks with HP. [12]
Humane announced their wearable device would be called the "Ai Pin" in July 2023. [13] [14] Chaudhri revealed the device and demonstrated its features during a TED Talk in May 2023, [15] [16] and it was later showcased at Paris Fashion Week in September. [17]
The Ai Pin was formally announced on November 9, 2023, and sales started one week later at a price of $699. [12] [8] Humane had hoped for 100,000 sales, but only reached 10,000. [12] Despite concerns raised by employees, Humane never hired a head of marketing. [12] The device began shipping in April 2024. [4]
The Humane Ai Pin was featured by Time in its Best 200 Inventions of 2023, which was published before the product was released and without the magazine being provided a review unit for testing. [18] Time's co-chairs, Marc and Lynne Benioff, are investors in Humane. [18]
The Ai Pin has received generally negative reviews, praising its product design but criticizing the limited battery life and how easily the device overheats in just a few minutes. [19] [20] The New York Times reported that due to overheating problems, Humane executives would use ice packs to chill the pin before previewing it to investors or partners. [12]
The Verge wrote, "After many days of testing, the one and only thing I can truly rely on the Ai Pin to do is tell me the time." [19] The review from Inverse stated that it "is slow to answer even basic questions." [20] Fast Company noted that "Almost everything about the pin was a UX disaster for reviewers." [21]
In response to the criticism, lead Ai Pin engineer Ken Kocienda said that he used the product "all the time" but did find it "frustrating sometimes" in the same way as a laptop or smartphone. [22]
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