Human, formerly one of Silicon Valley’s busiest AI hardware startups, announced on Tuesday that it was partially acquired by HP for $116 million.
Tuesday may not have been a great day for humanitarian investors, according to two sources that called for anonymity on internal documents and private issues seen by TechCrunch, but its approximately 200 employees It was particularly confusing for me.
Hours after the acquisition was announced, several humanitarian employees received jobs from HP, with wages increasing between 30% and 70%, with HP’s stock and bonus plans increasing, and Sources revealed. While several employees who received the offer were working on the company’s core software, sources also show that not all people who worked on the software got a job offer.
Meanwhile, other humanitarian employees, particularly those approaching AI PIN devices, including quality assurance, automation and operations, were notified Tuesday night that they had left their jobs, sources said.
These jobs highlight HP’s interest in acquiring a Humane pool of software engineers focused on AI as part of the acquisition. Engineers who can build around AI systems are some of the hottest products in Silicon Valley today. Humane’s team, like Openai, Google and other AI lab engineers, did not train the AI Foundation model from scratch, but such employees are still very popular. This also makes it difficult for huge legacy players such as HP to hire.
The company announced on Tuesday that HP’s newly formed innovation lab (HP IQ) is home to not only Human co-founders Imran Chaudhri and CEO Bethany Bongiorno, but also the startup’s AI operating system COSMO I did. The new unit will focus on integrating artificial intelligence into HP’s personal computers, printers and connected meeting rooms.
Social media users were quick to enjoy their humanitarian employees. Some of them have quit their jobs at the hot topic startup because of their stable role in building AI-enabled HP printers. However, one source said these jobs were exciting for many who received them with higher salaries.
Improvised, company-wide meetings
The acquisition of HP was not a surprise to humane employees at all. The New York Times wanted to sell to HP for over $1 billion in June, but the final price was much lower.
Human leadership also instructed some employees to prepare for the “big news” in late January, one said.
However, the news didn’t arrive until the second half of February. When that happened, human employees were not given much heads-up that the final agreement was struck or the AI PIN business was defeated.
According to internal communications seen by TechCrunch, around midday on Tuesday in the Pacific belt, Human Chief of Staff Andie Adragna invited employees to an improvisation invitation. The meeting was held at the company’s San Francisco office and was streamed live for remote employees.
At the meeting, Bongiorno explained to employees that they had informed the company about the acquisition offer just before Humane and HP’s press release was released.
At another companywide meeting later that day, Bongiorno revealed that some employees would get jobs to work at HP IQ, while others would not.
Several humanitarian employees were then fired by email Tuesday, prompting them to quickly block access to the company system, another source said.
The total number of humanitarian employees affected by the layoffs is unknown. HP and Humane did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
AI hardware startup with early problems
Human business has shown signs of flounder for a while.
AI PIN soon met negative reviews from early testers. This is a morale killer for company employees. The product’s charging case was then temporarily considered a fire hazard. Worse, the company’s product engineering director abandoned the startup in July and set up his own company alongside other humanitarian executives.
Then things really got worse. The AI PIN returns may have outperformed sales at some point, bringing the AI Pin price down from $699 to $499.
After the acquisition was announced, Humane told customers it needed to “recycle” the $499 AI pin. This states that the startup will mostly stop working within two weeks.
That said, some employees see it as a medium success story for a humanitarian startup.
Most startups do not sell thousands of devices, attract national attention and are acquired for millions. Startup employees understand the risks that they are likely to join these companies and make the company fail, but give it a try anyway. With Humane, at least some of our staff are offered high paying jobs on HP, allowing us to continue with projects launched with Humane.
Interestingly, AI PIN, with its mission to replace smartphones, died soon after, as other AI wearables appear to be picking up steam.
Meta’s Ray-Ban AI smart glasses continue to be on sale well, and the company reportedly is preparing a new version for release later this year. Rabbit’s R1 landed at the Best Buy store this week, opening the door to more mainstream electronics consumers. And we are still waiting for a friend’s release. This is another AI startup that creates wearable devices to deal with loneliness.
Perhaps ironically, Apple released a $599 iPhone this week packed with AI features, mimicking the functionality of devices they want to exchange phones.
The AI Pin was undoubtedly ahead of its time. The question now is how quickly it is.
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