Ai Pin returns from the dead, no thanks to printer maker HP

image via 9to5mac.com
image via 9to5mac.com

Ai Pin is dead, long live the OpenPin. Same great hardware with none of the hubris. Check out the open-source project at openpin.org if you have a bricked Ai Pin just collecting dust — or if you’re now more interested in owning one than ever like us.

https://9to5mac.com/2025/04/23/ai-pin-returns-from-the-dead-no-thanks-to-printer-maker-hp/

Humane’s AI Pin is dead, as HP buys startup’s assets for $116M

image via techcrunch.com
image via techcrunch.com

Humane announced on Tuesday that most of its assets have been acquired by HP for $116 million. The hardware startup is immediately discontinuing sales of its $499 AI Pins. Humane alerted customers who have already purchased the Pin that their devices will stop functioning before the end of the month — at 12 p.m. PST on February 28, 2025, according to a blog post. The news brings an end to the short-lived, buzzy hardware startup. Humane made a splash in April 2024 by launching its AI Pin, which it positioned as a smartphone replacement. The Bay Area startup, founded by ex-Apple employees Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri, raised more than $230 million to create the device.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/18/humanes-ai-pin-is-dead-as-hp-buys-startups-assets-for-116m/

Humane urges customers to stop using charging case, citing battery fire concerns

image via techcrunch.com
image via techcrunch.com

“Our investigation determined that the battery supplier was no longer meeting our quality standards and that there is a potential that certain battery cells supplied by this vendor may pose a fire safety risk,” Humane wrote in an email viewed by TechCrunch. “As a result, we immediately disqualified this battery vendor while we work to identify a new vendor to avoid such issues and maintain our high quality standards.”

https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/05/humane-urges-customers-to-stop-using-charging-case-citing-battery-fire-concerns

Humane AI Pin review: not even close

image via theverge.com
image via theverge.com

"As the overall state of AI improves, the AI Pin will probably get better, and I’m bullish on AI’s long-term ability to do a lot of fiddly things on our behalf. But there are too many basic things it can’t do, too many things it doesn’t do well enough, and too many things it does well but only sometimes that I’m hard-pressed to name a single thing it’s genuinely good at. None of this — not the hardware, not the software, not even GPT-4 — is ready yet."

https://www.theverge.com/24126502/humane-ai-pin-review

Humane announces 10 layoffs as CTO ‘transitions’ into advisor role

image via techcrunch.com
image via techcrunch.com

Much-hyped hardware startup Humane has announced that it’s laying off 10 employees — 4% of its workforce — before it has shipped a single one of its funky new ambient computing devices. The company’s chief technology officer (CTO) is also “transitioning” into an advisor role after five years at the company. “As we begin this new chapter of Humane, going from stealth to customer facing, we are making some changes to best prepare us for continued growth,” CEO and co-founder Bethany Bongiorno wrote in a LinkedIn post (as reported by The Verge).

https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/10/humane-layoffs-ai-pin-hardware/