Humane announced Tuesday that most of its assets had been acquired by HP for $116 million. The hardware startup will soon discontinue selling the $499 AI pin. According to a blog post, Humane warns customers who already have PINs that have purchased pins that their devices will stop working by the end of the month.
From that day onwards, the company says that AI pins will no longer connect to Humane’s servers. The device cannot call, messaging, AI queries/respond, or cloud access. Humane advises AI PIN owners to immediately transfer important photos and data to external devices.
Humane is scheduled to disband AI PIN customer support team on February 28th. The company says customers who purchased AI PINs in the last 90 days are eligible for a refund, but no one has purchased the device before that, according to the FAQ.
The news puts an end to a short-lived, buzzy hardware startup. Humane splashed with the release of AI PIN in April 2024. Founded by former applicant employees Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri, the Bay Area startup has raised over $230 million to create the device.
However, Humane’s AI PIN has disappointed many early reviewers and customers, causing a crisis in the company. According to a report from The Verge, at one point last summer, AI Pin’s Human’s Return began to outperform sales. Adding humiliation to the injury, Humane instructed the customer to stop using the device’s charging case, citing concerns about the battery fire. In October, the company, which had long been charging customers $699 for AI PINs, reduced the price by $200.
HP is acquiring Humane engineers and product managers, according to a blog post that announced the acquisition. The humanitarian team forms the basis for a new group within HP, known as HP IQ. This describes it as “AI Innovation Lab focused on building an intelligent ecosystem across HP’s products and services for the future of work.”
HP also acquires some of Humane’s technologies, including the COSMOS AI operating system. Humane recently presented an ad that suggests that AI operating systems can run on car entertainment systems, smart speakers, TVs and Android phones. This technology can be used to integrate AI into HP’s personal computers and printers.
Humans were about to be acquired in May 2024 at a much higher price, and at a much higher price, according to a Bloomberg report.
Humane did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
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