Humane unveils AI Pin: A wearable device powered by OpenAI

After months of teasing and hinting at what AI-driven future devices might look like, Humane has finally unveiled its first device: AI Pin. This device is a $699 wearable device that consists of two parts: a square device and a battery pack that can be attached to your clothes or other surfaces using magnets. In addition to the price, there is also a $24 monthly Humane subscription fee, which gives you a phone number and data coverage through the T-Mobile network. The company states that the device will start shipping in early 2024, with pre-orders beginning on November 16th. AI Pin is powered by a Snapdragon processor, although it is unclear which one. It can be controlled through voice commands, a camera, gestures, and a small built-in projector. The Pin itself weighs about 34 grams, while the "battery enhancer" adds an additional 20 grams. The built-in camera can take 13 million pixel photos and can also capture videos after a software update. Unlike devices like the Rewind Pendant, AI Pin is not constantly recording or even listening for wake words. You have to manually activate the device by tapping and dragging on the touchpad, and the "trust light" on Pin will flash to let you and others know that it is collecting data. The main function of Pin is to connect to AI models through software called AI Mic. Humane's press release mentions Microsoft and OpenAI, and previous reports have hinted that Pin is primarily powered by GPT-4 - Humane says that access to ChatGPT is actually one of the core features of this device. Its operating system, called Cosmos, is designed to automatically route your queries to the right tools instead of requiring you to download and manage applications. Humane's goal with Pin is essentially to remove all the interface clutter from your technology. It won't have a main screen or many settings and accounts to manage; the idea is that you just need to speak or touch Pin and tell it what you want to do or know, and it will happen automatically. In the past year, we have seen many features that can be achieved with just a simple text command to a chatbot; Humane is trying to build a device with the same spirit. So, what exactly can this thing do? Most of the features mentioned by Humane in the announcement are ones that co-founder Imran Chaudhri demonstrated earlier this year at TED: voice messages and calls; a "catch me up" feature that summarizes your email inbox; pointing the camera at food to get nutritional information; and real-time translation. In addition, it appears that the main purpose of this device is to serve as a wearable LLM-driven search engine. However, the company did tell Wired that it plans to add navigation and shopping features and intends to provide developers with a way to build their own tools. Humane seems to view AI Pin as the beginning of a larger project, and that may be true: it will improve with time as the underlying models improve, and it looks like the entire tech industry is working to find new ways to use AI. Humane may hope that its device will evolve like a smartphone: better hardware improving the user experience over time, but the real revolution comes from what you can do with the device. There is still a lot of work to be done in this regard, but Humane is clearly ready to get started.