Specimen 016 — Humane AI Pin: The $699 Phone Replacement With a Nine-Minute Screen

The Humane AI Pin was a wearable computer in two parts. A front unit and a rear battery clamped magnetically on either side of the wearer's clothing at chest level. The device had no screen: a green monochrome 720p projector, which Humane called Laser Ink, drew the interface onto the user's palm, and most of the device's face was a touchpad that had to be tapped before it would listen 1.

Heat set the design's ceiling. Humane said the projector was intended to be used for no longer than nine minutes, and executives used ice packs to chill the pins before previewing them to investors and partners 1. Humane was founded in San Francisco in 2018 by Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, both previously at Apple, and had raised $230 million by November 2023 1. Before the pin shipped, the company was reported to be valued at $1 billion 2.

The device was announced on November 9, 2023 at $699, with a $24 monthly subscription for its AI and cellular service, and it began shipping in April 2024 13. Humane hoped to sell 100,000 pins in its first year; as of early April 2024 it had taken about 10,000 orders 2. In August 2024 The Verge reported that returns were outpacing sales, with more than $1 million of returned product against about $9 million of sales 4. The price was cut to $499 on October 23, 2024, and on October 31, 2024 the US Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled the Charge Case Accessory over a fire hazard from its lithium polymer battery 1.

On February 18, 2025, HP agreed to acquire Humane's Cosmos platform, its technical staff and intellectual property covering more than 300 patents and patent applications, for $116 million; HP's announcement described an AI lab for its PCs, printers and conference rooms and did not mention the pin 56. Humane stopped selling the device that day.

The hardware did not break. Humane's consumer FAQ said the pins would stop connecting to its servers after 12:00 PT on February 28, 2025, which ended calls, texts and AI queries; the phone number could not be ported, and customer data was deleted from the company's servers 4. Offline functions, such as checking the battery level, still worked. Refunds were limited to devices shipped on or after November 15, 2024, and had to be requested by February 27, 2025 4.