Humane Is Cutting Support for Their AI Pins

So first, why are we talking about this? Last year, we covered both the Humane AI Pin and the Rabbit R1. These AI-powered handhelds were generating considerable hype within tech circles, and were (briefly) a lucrative flip.

At the time of our coverage, the Humane AI Pin had just been lambasted by tech reviewer Marques Brownlee. He called out the device’s fundamental inability to do just about anything right; it was slow, it hallucinated, it was awkward to use, it was heavy and got hot.

And it was also really damn expensive. Humane was asking early adopters to pay $700 upfront, along with a recurring subscription to ask ChatGPT basic questions. Everything was run through Humane’s servers, so a stable internet connectivity was a requirement for use.

Brownlee’s teardown of the product immediately shifted attention to the Rabbit R1, and while these weren’t that much better, they were a lot cheaper. In the end, resellers were able to turn profits of up to $200 at a time during peak hype.

Just over a year later, the curtains are closing for Humane AI Pins. The company announced yesterday that they have been acquired by HP, including all of their tech. Humane’s engineers will be bootstrapping an internal AI team at HP, and the founders will probably be cashing some nice checks.

And the pins? Dead. Humane has confirmed that all support for their AI Pin will cease on February 28. Anything that requires a connection to Humane’s servers will be unavailable (read: literally all of the device’s functionality), although users will still be able to access essential functions (read: you can check the battery level).

Humane recommends users take their AI Pins to a local e-waste recycler. In other words, go f*ck yourself and thanks for the money.

Customers who purchased their AI Pin in the last 90 days are still within the company’s standard refund window, but early adopters are being hung to dry.

This is a fairly obvious outcome for anyone that was following the AI Pins from the start, but it’s still pretty funny to see a product that was this heavily marketed completely close up shop in such a short timeframe. Maybe Humane should have tried making a good product.

Anyways, we just wanted to pass the news along to any resellers that were considering buying a Humane AI Pin to flip. Sometimes, it’s best to let shitty dogs lie – especially when they carry a $700 asking price.

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