How Humane's attempt to build its Ai Pin “The Apple Way” led to disastrous results, after taking six years to build it and raising $230M
The new A.I. Pin from Humane is, according to those who have used one, bad. Martin Peers / The Information : Goldman Sachs Sees Gold Mine in Financing AI John Gruber / Daring Fireball : ‘MKBHDs for Everything’ — Ben Thompson, marking the 10th anniversary of Stratechery as a full-time endeavor: Dave Lee / Bloomberg : The Lesson in Humane's Epic AI Gadget Flop Gary Ng / iPhone in Canada Blog : Humane AI Pin Called 'Worst Product I've Ever Reviewed' Emman Omwanda / Cryptopolitan : Humane AI Pin's Stumbles: A Catalyst for Apple's Innovation Strategy Geoff Weiss / Business Insider : Humane's AI Pin got trashed by a YouTuber, and it sparked a firestorm over whether that's fair Zoe Kleinman / BBC : ‘Bad at almost everything’: AI wearable panned by reviewers Casey Newton / Platformer : Humane's folly and the AI hype hangover Rob Thubron / TechSpot : YouTube star Marques Brownlee's scathing Humane Ai Pin review leads to argument over ethics and influence Matt Growcoot / PetaPixel : MKBHD Calls Humane AI Pin the ‘Worst Product’ He's Ever Reviewed Mastodon: Dave Rahardja / @drahardja@sfba.social : This is a devastating—and IMO devastatingly accurate—description of what happened at #Humane. A combination of hubris and VC-driven dynamics drove the team to launch a terrible product. The whole essay is worth a read, and every paragraph rings true. — “Oh the Humanity—Why You Can't Build Apple with Venture Capital” … @kf@666.glitchwit.ch : watching the MKBHD video on the humane pin, and I love this comment — “this seems like a product that they designed, hoping they'd get bought out by apple or google, but neither company showed interest, so they kept going” — 😂🔥 — https://www.youtube.com/... @jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud : I have to confess, I'm completely obsessed with the ongoing catastrofuck known as the Ai Pin. Here, an extremely insightful breakdown of how an unknown, completely unproven company like Humane can manage to raise $300 million in venture capital money to begin with. https://www.sandofsky.com/humane/ Adrian Kosmaczewski / @akosma@mastodon.online : An interesting, very Swiss perspective on the Humane AI pin: you won't be able to buy it in Switzerland, or even get it shipped here, since the purchase and ownership of lasers of Class 2 or higher (according to MKBHD, minute 03:07) is strictly forbidden (and you could be fined up to 40'000 Swiss Francs). … Ben Sandofsky / @sandofsky@mastodon.social : I wrote four thousand words on the follies of Humane, theories of what happened, and why you can't build Apple within the Venture Capital system. Enjoy. — https://www.sandofsky.com/humane/ X: Rat King / @mikeisaac : were this not “ex apple employees raise a quarter billion dollars to eliminate the smartphone” the expectations may have not been so sky-high make it a kind of permanent beta product and dont position it as a smartphone killer right out of the gate Sam Sheffer / @samsheffer : an honest, solid review marques — all fair and valid critiques, both the good and the bad feedback is a gift. we reflect and we listen and we learn and we continue building. Gergely Orosz / @gergelyorosz : We should acknowledge that it is probably 10x harder to build a tech startup with mainstream appeal in 2024 than it was in 2014 and 100x than in 2004. Add another 10x multiplier if its (expensive) consumer hardware: because smartphones are SO GOOD and everyone has them. Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life : I find it distasteful, almost unethical, when we try to bully people into not speaking the truth because it will make rich and powerful people uncomfortable. A company spent 6 years and $230M to create a $700 device. It is a service to let potential buyers know what they'll get. Wesam / @wesamo__ : you're laughing? 250M dollars of shareholder value was just killed by MKBHD and you're laughing? [image] Marques Brownlee / @mkbhd : This clip is 99% of my experiences with the pin - doing something you could already do on your phone, but slower, more annoying, or less reliable/accurate. Turns out smartphones are pretty incredible. See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
Humane entered the market with a $699 device plus a monthly connectivity charge, after early coverage had already questioned its app limitations and value proposition. The subsequent account ties the disappointing launch to a six-year, $230M effort to reproduce an Apple-style hardware-development approach.
The result sharpens the contrast with the later case for putting generative AI inside established products rather than requiring customers to adopt a separate device category.
First-order effects
- Humane faces an immediate credibility and demand problem: reviews say the Pin handles smartphone-like tasks more slowly and less reliably despite its premium price and recurring fee.
- The reported failure puts the company’s long development cycle and $230M fundraising strategy under direct scrutiny, while the Pin’s early buyers bear the cost of an underperforming product.
Second-order effects
- Other AI-device startups will face tougher proof-of-utility tests before asking consumers to pay for new hardware and connectivity plans; a novel form factor alone is unlikely to justify the switch from a phone.
- Incumbents such as Apple gain a clearer strategic comparison: integrating AI into devices customers already own avoids the distribution and behavior-change burden exposed by the Pin.
Third-order effects
- If this pattern persists, consumer AI hardware will consolidate around products that can demonstrate a distinct, dependable task advantage—not stand-alone assistants that duplicate smartphone functions.
- The episode suggests that capital-intensive, secrecy-led hardware development is a weak substitute for validated product-market fit in AI, though one failed product does not rule out a future dedicated-device category.
The trend: Consumer AI is shifting from stand-alone gadget experiments toward AI features distributed through existing device ecosystems.