Humane, an ambitious startup behind AI PIN devices aimed at replacing humanitarian smartphones, has agreed to sell a portion of its business to HP for $116 million, he said. The company said Tuesday.
HP said it plans to acquire Humane's “AI abilities” including software platforms, intellectual property, patents and some employees. The AI ​​PIN will be shut down, Humane said in a message to its customers.
The deal curtails the downfall of a flying startup that strongly promoted the $699 pin at Paris Fashion Week with ads, TED Talk and supermodels. Humane raised $240 million in funding from high-profile investors, including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and his Openai counterpart Sam Altman, before releasing the product. was valued at $850 million.
Humane was created by Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, the founders of the couple who previously worked at Apple. The pair envisioned a wearable device where people would clip onto their clothes and interact with voice commands and laser displays projected in their hands. The idea was to reduce the amount of time spent staring at my smartphone screen.
However, the AI ​​PIN, which began shipping to customers last spring, was a flop.
Reviewers criticized the product, and although AI software often gave the wrong answer or took a long time to respond, the battery on the pin overheated. Humane wanted to sell 100,000 pins in its first year, but only sold around 10,000 orders. At one point, the company instructed its customers to stop using the charging case due to the risk of a fire.
Last year, Humane hired an investment bank to sell herself, and also wanted new funds. The startup sought a selling price of over $1 billion.
A letter posted on the Humene's website on Tuesday said Pin would no longer function at the end of this month and its customer data would be deleted. “Our business priorities have changed,” the letter said.
HP, which sells an estimated 53 million PCs per year, says it hopes to add AI capabilities to its laptops to make it even more convenient. Last year, HP worked with Microsoft to develop a line of AI computers called Copilot+ PCS.
In its announcement, HP said it will use Humane's technology to become a more “experience-driven company.” Humane workers will become part of a new innovation lab called HP IQ and focus on “building an intelligent ecosystem across HP products and services.” Chaudhri and Bongiorno will join the company, as will the majority of employees at startups, a website spokesperson said.
In a call with analysts in November, Enrique Lores, president and CEO of HP, said: “We will focus on delivering cutting-edge AI-powered technologies.”
