Humane, the company behind the AI Pin wearable computer, is reportedly looking for a buyer, according to a report from Bloomberg.
The AI Pin has tried to take on the smartphone. Bigger than a tin of Vaseline, the wearable device attaches to the shirt via magnet and it can be largely instructed through voice commands to search the web or answer queries. It can send texts, make calls and take pictures.
Bloomberg says that the founders of the company — former Apple employees Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno — are “seeking a price of between $750 million and $1 billion”.
The AI Pin has been widely panned for falling short on user experience and has been slow in offering responses. Humane developed its own operating system called CosmosOS that runs the device.
The Bloomberg report notes that Humane raised $230 million from investors including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who is rumoured to be developing an unrelated product that could better showcase AI’s promise. The company was valued at $850 million by investors in 2023, but that was before the AI Pin was criticised.
Since large tech companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft are developing their large language models and AI devices, it remains unclear how much value does Humane’s intellectual property would bring to any of their ongoing efforts.