The decision to drop support comes after HP acquired the beleaguered startup in a $116 million deal, which didn’t entail its flagship AI Pin. As a result of that, the wearable will no longer offer calling, messaging, cloud access or any of its touted AI features, starting from February 28.

The news has understandably been received very poorly by early adopters, with many left feeling “duped” and “screwed over.”

Although the startup will offer refunds to users who purchased the device after November 15, 2024, early adopters are left empty-handed. The company has also paused new orders, though obviously nobody is rushing to buy its AI Pin at the moment.

Humane Hasn’t Made It Up To AI Pin Users
Adding insult to injury, Humane says users will still be able to benefit from “offline features like battery level” after February 28, but core features will be inaccessible, making the device virtually obsolete.

The wearable, which retailed at $699 with an additional monthly subscription of $24, only began shipping last April. It scored poorly among reviewers, with YouTuber Marques Brownlee famously calling it “the worst product” he’d ever reviewed.

Even upon launch, early adopters voiced skepticism of the device, finding little to no use for it and feeling “swindled.” Today’s announcement is sure to further intensify that feeling.

(I’ve reached out to Humane for comment and will update this piece accordingly if I hear back.)
Users Search For Alternative Uses For Humane’s AI Pin
Desperate users are exploring ways to find new uses for the device, with some discussing the possibility of jailbreaking the AI Pin to install alternative operating systems, though that doesn’t seem to be an option according to user reports.
In the meantime, opportunist posters are extending offers to purchase used AI Pins at significantly reduced rates.
That’s a rough position to be in for AI Pin users: sell for pennies on the dollar or be stuck with a bad apple. Humane, which once sought to sell its business for up to $1 billion, ultimately opted for the former.

Instead, Humane is winding down support for the Pin, pausing orders and encouraging users to download their media, according to a note shared by the company.

The Pin will function as normal until February 28, at which point it’ll lose most of its features, including calling, messaging, connecting to the cloud and its AI-powered shenanigans.

Some Pin users will be eligible for refunds, but anybody who copped the wearable device prior to November 15, 2024 is out in the cold. Refund requests must be submitted by February 27.

So while Humane’s AI division, including its founders and employees, will get rolled into HP as part of the $116 million acquisition deal, a chunk of consumers will be pretty much left with the husk of a device once touted as the next big thing in tech.
Founders Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno are expected to form a new division at HP, where they’ll oversee the integration of AI within the company’s computers, printers and conferencing tools, Bloomberg reports.

Humane, which received $230 million in funding from big shots like OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Salesforce’s Marc Benioff, SoftBank, Qualcomm, Microsoft, LG and Volvo, has reportedly been seeking a buyer since May 2024, initially hoping to offload its business for a sum in the range between $750 million to $1 billion.

Well, the final number is $116 million — the price of disappointed early adopters not included.
Death By YouTube?
Humane’s flagship AI Pin, which began shipping less than a year ago in April, received unfavorable reviews across the board.

Brownlee’s reflections on the wearable, summarized in a now-infamous video titled “The Worst Product I’ve Ever Reviewed… For Now” published in April 2024, drew significant controversy at the time.
Although the YouTuber was praised for sharing his unfettered thoughts on the device, naysayers expressed concern that his negative feedback could hurt a company trying to do something new in an otherwise increasingly stale tech ecosystem.
In hindsight, Brownlee had every right to be skeptical — especially now that we know the ones most affected will be the people that believed in Humane’s vision the most and backed it with their hard-earned cash.
Humane’s AI Pin was always a long shot. The proliferation of AI and the acceleration of its adoption into phones and other consumer devices made an already cramped space even smaller for the startup. Who could’ve seen this coming? Brownlee did.