The archive · Hardware & Devices · Product decision · 2018–2025
Humane's $699 AI Pin: $230M raised to replace smartphones, dead within a year
Ex-Apple founders raised $230M+ to replace the smartphone with the AI Pin; bad reviews, returns and a recall led to a $116M HP sale and a Feb 2025 shutdown.
Humane
What the business is
Sells a chest-worn AI pin with a voice assistant, camera and laser projector — pitched as a smartphone replacement — plus a mandatory $24/month cellular data plan.
Starting capital：$230M+ raised since 2018, from backers that included high-profile tech investors; HP later paid $116M for most of its assets.
How it started
Founded in 2018 by ex-Apple designers Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri, Humane raised $230M+ to build the 'disappearing computer.' It teased the AI Pin in a TED talk, was named to Time's Best Inventions of 2023 before shipping, and launched the $699 device in April 2024.
What happened
Launch reviews were brutal: The Verge scored the Pin 4/10, and it shipped without basic features like a timer, overheated in normal use, had weak battery life, and the charging case was recalled over fire risk. By summer 2024 returns were outpacing sales, Humane cut the price to $499 in October, and a rumored $750M–$1B sale to HP in May 2024 fell through.
How it ended up
On Feb 18, 2025 Humane announced that HP was acquiring most of its assets — the team, CosmOS, and technology — for $116M. The AI Pin stopped connecting to Humane's servers on Feb 28, 2025, about a year after it began shipping, with refunds only for purchases in the last 90 days.
Background
Humane was founded in 2018 by ex-Apple designers Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri on the bet that the smartphone era was ending. The AI Pin — a $699 chest-worn device with a voice assistant, camera and laser projector, plus a mandatory $24/month plan — was pitched at TED as 'the disappearing computer' and named one of Time's Best Inventions of 2023 before it ever shipped, after $230M+ in funding.
The launch in April 2024 was a disaster. Reviewers found a device that shipped without basic features, overheated in normal use, had poor battery life, and answered sporadically; The Verge scored it 4/10. By summer, returns were outpacing sales, Humane recalled the charging case over fire risk, and in October it cut the price to $499.
On Feb 18, 2025 Humane announced that HP was acquiring most of its assets — the team, its CosmOS AI operating system, and technology — for $116M. The pin stopped connecting to Humane's servers on Feb 28, 2025, with refunds only for the last 90 days. Founders and engineers joined HP's new HP IQ AI lab; the consumer product was gone.
What has to be true
- The bet was directionally plausible — screenless, ambient AI — but years early: agents, glasses, and phone assistants got there first with better interfaces.
- Shipping readiness failed: the Pin lacked basic features, overheated, had weak battery life, and the charging case was recalled, so returns outpaced sales within months.
- Hype amplified the crash: a TED 'disappearing computer' demo and Time's Best Inventions listing set expectations the product could never meet.
- The exit math was brutal: $230M+ raised and a rumored $750M–$1B sale price collapsed to $116M for the team and CosmOS — the hardware itself was worth little.
What can be applied
Vision doesn't forgive an unfinished product: Humane saw the ambient-AI future early but shipped a $699 device that couldn't do basics, turning hype and $230M+ into a $116M asset sale.
Aftermath
As of Aug 2026, Humane's founders and engineers work inside HP's HP IQ AI lab, with CosmOS as HP's AI operating-system asset for PCs and printers. Consumer AI Pins lost service on Feb 28, 2025 — about a year after shipping — with refunds only within the 90-day window, leaving owners with an offline device. The arc is widely cited as the cautionary tale that cooled AI-hardware startup enthusiasm.
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