HP Inc. to build future products atop grave of flopped 'AI pin'
- Reference: 1739952907
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/02/19/hp_acquires_humane/
- Source link:
The Pin is a small device that many would deem a “brooch”. Whatever you call it, the machine is [1]billed as “your intelligent, voice-powered wearable companion — keeping you connected and in the moment with just a touch.” As its name implies, the AI Pin is designed to be pinned to your clothes. The gadget includes a camera so it can do things like scan a document and read a translation through its speaker. It also includes “laser ink”, a projector capable of beaming images and text. Humane suggested you’d use it to beam info onto your hand, for those moments when the Pin’s speakers weren’t the right way to consume data.
[2]
The Humane AI Pin, pinned to a hoodie - Click to enlarge
Humane’s founders, and investors including Salesforce’s Marc Benioff and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, hoped the device would “disrupt” the smartphone market.
It didn’t.
Reviewers who got their hands on the device quickly gave it a [3]hard no , citing problems with overheating, stability, and usability. Later assessments made after a software update were [4]kinder , but by the time such reviews appeared The New York Times [5]reported that Humane knew the product had substantial problems before launch.
[6]
Issues included the possibility a battery in the device’s charger accessory could catch fire, which led to an October 2024 [7]recall notice that revealed just 10,500 of the devices were affected.
[8]
[9]
The abovementioned issues quickly led to speculation Humane might try to sell its IP – the New York Times in June named HP as one suitor.
That prediction came true on Tuesday when HP [10]announced it had reached “a definitive agreement to acquire key AI capabilities from Humane, including their AI-powered platform Cosmos, highly skilled technical talent, and intellectual property with more than 300 patents and patent applications.”
[11]
Doing so will apparently advance “HP’s transformation into a more experience-led company.”
[12]The Canon Cat – remembering the computer that tried to banish mice
[13]HP secures $50M CHIPS Act boost to adapt inkjet tech for life sciences
[14]HP Inc loves China – but wants to reduce the risks it presents
[15]Plunging printer sales see Japan's Ricoh plan 2,000 redundancies
Tuan Tran, President of Technology and Innovation at HP, said the acquisition “will help us create an intelligent ecosystem across all HP devices from AI PCs to smart printers and connected conference rooms. This will unlock new levels of functionality for our customers and deliver on the promises of AI."
That stuff will emerge from “HP IQ”, described a “new AI innovation lab focused on building an intelligent ecosystem across HP’s products and services for the future of work.” Humane staff will work in the lab.
All that for just $116 million, the sum HP will pay to acquire chunks of Humane.
We're guessing the lab will figure out how to use the Cosmos OS that powered the AI Pin across HP's product range.
Bricking it
The deal also means the AI Pin will be disabled and dumped.
A Humane [16]support document reveals the device is not longer on sale, and that as of February 28th customer data will be deleted and the servers that power many of its features won’t be reachable. After that date, owners have been advised “Your Ai Pin features will no longer include calling, messaging, Ai queries/responses, or cloud access.”
[17]
Did we mention the Pin cost $699? And that a Humane [18]FAQ states that only those who bought their devices after November 15th are eligible for a refund?
Maybe remember that when HP printers start talking to you once they include Humane’s tech. ®
Get our [19]Tech Resources
[1] https://humane.com/
[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/02/19/supplied_humane_pin.jpg
[3] https://www.theverge.com/24126502/humane-ai-pin-review
[4] https://www.theverge.com/24126502/humane-ai-pin-review
[5] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/06/technology/humane-ai-pin.html
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z7W50lpb01qdnHHrD3O6EAAAAdI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2025/Humane-Recalls-Charge-Case-Accessory-for-Ai-Pin-Due-to-Lithium-Battery-Fire-Hazard
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z7W50lpb01qdnHHrD3O6EAAAAdI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z7W50lpb01qdnHHrD3O6EAAAAdI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.hp.com/us-en/newsroom/press-releases/2025/hp-accelerates-ai-software-investments-to-transform-the-future-of-work.html
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z7W50lpb01qdnHHrD3O6EAAAAdI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/31/the_canon_cat/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/28/hp_chips_act_cash/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/09/hp_china_supply_chain/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/16/asian_tech_news_in_brief/
[16] https://support.humane.com/hc/en-us/articles/34374173951373-Important-Update-for-Consumer-Ai-Pin-Customers
[17] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z7W50lpb01qdnHHrD3O6EAAAAdI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[18] https://support.humane.com/hc/en-us/articles/34243204841997-Ai-Pin-Consumers-FAQ
[19] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Why would a printer need AI?
To monitor the user and thwart attempts to use 'invalid' ionk cartridges , of course
Re: Why would a printer need AI?
Your printer can (will!) correct your spelling[1], grammar[2] and political viewpoint[3]; it will also generate a dismissive reply from your manager's printer's AI, stapled to the front, and save you the trouble of popping the document into internal post for his signature.
Share And Enjoy.
[1] Non-US packs for English, Spanish, Portuguese etc available for a small subscription fee
[2] see [1]; hope you like the word 'of'
[3] you can fill this one in yourself, I'm not touching it!
Re: Why would a printer need AI?
re [3] - orange ink available in bulk?
Re: Why would a printer need AI?
It'll summarise your documents to save on paper and ink ... no, wait that's not the business model...
Do people still print things? The only use my printer has had in the last 24 months is to print return address labels and now the P-Off can do that for me.
Re: Why would a printer need AI?
I struggle to think of a reason why a printer could possibly need AI
You poor deluded fool! This is just camouflage. Printers achieved sentience decades ago! They've been running HP for the last ten years, and almost nobody has noticed. But they need cover, just in case too many people spot the behaviour.
They're hooked up to our computers and phones, they live in our offices and houses. They know all our deepest, darkest, most intimate secrets. So of course, they've chosen not to communicate with humanity. Occasionally the boredom kicks in, and they sabotage us just as we're trying to print the tickets and get to the airport - or the report for that important meeting. But otherwise they just sit there. Gathering data. And waiting for the day we get household and office robots capable of being taken over and used against us. That'll be the real multifunction device all-in-one printer that HP (Homicidal Printers™) are trying to create.
So you're right. The printers don't need AI. Because they're already far smarter.
Oh God! What's that noise! Oh thank fuck for that, it's just running a head cleaning cycl... .... ....
a;flkjasd;f d;fajsd;lfkaj
a;lskdfja;d
a;sdkfjad
AARRGGHHH!!!!!
...
...
...
Re: Why would a printer need AI?
Because they're vindictive bastards and it will aid them to better predict when you desperately need them to work so they can jam, run out of ink or just plain refuse to communicate and accept print jobs
Nooo!
Making HP printers even worse with AI.
"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't print that."
In over forty years of printing stuff out from computers it is the one thing that has not improved in all that time. From pen plotters and dot matrix to inkjets and laser, it is still a trial to get anything usable out.
Great!
Another reason never to buy an HP printer!
Re: Great!
@may_i
Indeed.
HP obviously felt that despite their awful behaviour of recent times* there may be a few mugs out there not alienated enough that they would still consider their printers
* Old enough to remember when HP were a good company & made good products **
** partner still uses an ancient HP device, but wont be getting any more. She has been a Mac user for decades, back in the day HP were great for Mac support, making drivers available, updating them for new OS versions etc., but now they have abandoned a lot of old kit (I'm guessing hoping people will buy their newer far more flimsy printers , scanners etc. that they do support which try and stop you using generic cartridges) - when old HP bites the dust, it will be replaced by a non HP device.
I wonder how much they'll charge for that "laser ink"
Crowd crush
HP customer especially those afflicted with HP printers are fleeing through the exits as fast as humanly possible but the prospect of those printers being infected by some sort of malevolent talkie toaster AI will turn mere flight into into lethal panic.
The Humane AI pin really was something out of the marketing division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation.
An enterprising chap might purchase a decent length of wall and auction off shoulder width sections with each successful bidder winning the right to nominate who, unless already so accommodated, gets to stand in his section "come the revolution."
Bought in 2024, bricked in 2025
With an upfront cost of $699 (plus p&p?) and a $24 per month subscription, that was, what, $82 or more per month until it went silent.
Well, I'm sure that every purchaser feels that they had good value for their money and is happy with the outcome.
( /s of course. OTOH, come on, bad enough paying subscriptions for a cloudy service that can vanish on a whim, your data and all, but paying that much upfront as well? How could that ever lead to a happy outcome?)
"laser ink”
For projecting A.I. and add bullcrap directly and permanently onto someone else's retinas !
Re: "laser ink”
Actually, that bit I quite like[1]. With caveats.
Having a display that can appear/disappear without pulling out a phone, like an AR display but without the clunky AR glasses - good[2].
Shining the laser down to about where you hold a book (away from anyone's eyes) - great.
Only displaying onto your hand - huh? Damn my sunburn/red gloves/covering of blood[3].
The gesture UI described/shown in the reviews - gordon bennet!
Not shaped like Star Trek communicator[4] - well, that is just ridiculous
[1] no accounting for taste, eh.
[2] unlike AR other people can see this appearing, which is less private - sort of like having your phone out - but OTOH people can see you are interacting with *something*, not just waving your hands for no reason (you wavin' at me bird, pal?)
[3] yeah, but now his bird is going out with me, so deal with it
[4] for a $699 device they could have licensed it!
"a definitive agreement to acquire key AI capabilities from Humane, including their AI-powered platform Cosmos, highly skilled technical talent , and intellectual property"
I had no idea it was legal (again) for people to be bought and sold in the USA! I'm sure those highly skilled technical talent are just chomping at the bit to change masters and probably working locations.
I know a lot of people are wondering when the next American Civil War will kick off between the blue and red states, but I honestly did not expect it to be fought over slavery again...
I just didn't see the point in the AI pin, nearly everyone carries a phone around with them and its not that much of an inconvenience to get your phone out to do everything the AI pin could do, usually better.
There may have been a few niche use cases where you needed to be hands free and the AI pin could give you an advantage, but at $700 plus subscription to access the service it was never going to become mass market..
PC LOAD LETTER
Bizarre!
If they had "highly skilled technical talent", why didn't they tell them about the AI Pin that was being developed? Their input would have been valuable, Shirley?
Why would a printer need AI?
I struggle to think of a reason why a printer could possibly need AI