Humane's Wearable AI Assistant AiPin Faces Setbacks and May Be Sold

TapTechNews May 22nd news, in November 2023, with the ambition to disrupt the tech industry, Humane launched its first product - the wearable artificial intelligence assistant AiPin. AiPin runs on the Android system, uses an artificial intelligence model to answer users' questions, and projects information onto the user's palm through laser projection, aiming to 'eplace the smartphone' to complete daily tasks through voice control.

However, this product encountered a major setback at the very beginning of its launch. In April 2024, when AiPin was officially released, users and reviewers who got the product pointed out that there were serious flaws, such as extremely poor battery life, frequent overheating, sluggish response, and many software problems. The overwhelming negative evaluations from tech media made AiPin's situation even worse.

Bloomberg reported that in the face of the cold reception of AiPin in the market, Humane seems to have made a difficult decision and is planning to seek an acquirer. According to people familiar with the matter, Humane is currently discussing the sale with financial advisors, with a valuation between 750 million US dollars and 1 billion US dollars (TapTechNews note: currently about 5.43 billion yuan to 7.24 billion yuan).

Humane was founded by two former senior Apple employees, Imran Chaudri and Bethany Bongiorno. However, the high price of 699 US dollars for AiPin, the need for an additional monthly subscription fee to maintain normal use, and the closed operating system (ComOS) all make consumers hesitant. The flaws of the product itself, the immaturity of the software, the high price, and the subscription fee together led to the rapid downfall of AiPin. Although it may only be a matter of time for a startup to be eventually acquired by a giant, such a rapid rate of decline is still quite unexpected.