For several months, the American start-up Humane, founded by two former Apple engineers, has been making headlines with the AI Pin, an intelligent badge supposed to be the first step towards a future without smartphones. With its compact design and innovative features, the AI Pin was one of the curiosities of MWC 2024 with a promise: to change the game in the field of telephony.
However, after the first tests carried out by the specialist press, it seems that the initial enthusiasm has given way to disappointment. American media, such as The Verge, Engadget and Bloomberg, are unanimous: sold for $699, Humane’s AI Pin is far from keeping its promises.
Designed to harness the full power of GPT-4 artificial intelligence, the AI Pin is presented as a compact box to attach to clothing via a magnet, equipped with a camera, a projector, a microphone and of speakers. But despite its tempting features, initial tests reveal many flaws. One of the main criticisms of AI Pin is its slowness and unreliability. Responses sometimes take more than 10 seconds to arrive, and the device often seems unable to understand the requests sent to it. In addition, some tests have highlighted recognition errors, particularly with regard to image recognition.
Additionally, the AI Pin suffers from design issues, particularly regarding its battery life and cooling system. The battery tends to heat up quickly, which can be unpleasant for the user, even dangerous, and the autonomy of the device is considered unsatisfactory.
Despite these criticisms, Humane remains optimistic about the future of AI Pin. The company’s co-founder, Bethany Bongiorno, was keen to point out that this was a first generation product, and that improvements were already under development.