Wearable Smart Device AI Pin Cools Off, Humane Seeks Buyers, Priced as High as $1 Billion
In the field of wearable computing, a startup called Humane is facing a major turning point. According to the latest report from Bloomberg, the company is actively seeking buyers and hopes to sell its controversial AI Pin wearable computer project for a price as high as $750 million to $1 billion.
Humane, led by former Apple employees Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, was once highly anticipated. However, since the release of AI Pin, the product has been heavily criticized for its poor performance. Priced at $699, the device falls far short of expectations in terms of response speed and user experience, deviating greatly from the founders' promise of an always-on wearable AI assistant.
Despite its innovative design and concept, AI Pin has not performed well in the market. The software is not mature and stable enough, and there are also issues with short battery life and overheating in the hardware. Although Humane has promised to address some of these issues through firmware updates and recently launched an update based on the OpenAI GPT-4o model to enhance the device's intelligence, the market response remains limited.
Bloomberg points out that Humane has raised $230 million in funding from investors, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. However, despite having such financial support and collaborations with heavyweight figures in the industry, Humane has failed to reverse the decline of AI Pin.
Currently, global tech giants such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft are actively expanding in the AI field. With the popularity of large-scale language models and generative AI, market competition is becoming increasingly fierce. However, for Humane, the uncertainty remains as to whether its intellectual property and technological strength can bring significant value to the long-term strategies of these companies.
In the process of seeking buyers, Humane faces a severe test from the market. Despite having some degree of innovation in design and concept, its performance in the market and user feedback have become its biggest challenges. This search for buyers may bring new development opportunities for Humane, but the specific results are still to be seen.