Don't Believe the Hype: AI Pin Under Whelms But Has Lots of Promise

It didn’t take long, but the reviews are in. After a fantastic fall and winter 2023 hype campaign, the AI Pin is being panned by the technorati.

You may remember me hyping the AI Pin myself last winter. It also made 2023’s Annual Gift Guide. Humane, the company behind the AI Pin, and its founders lauded the device as the next thing in the human computer interface. It just may not have been ready.

…this thing is bad at almost everything it does, basically all the time.
Marques Brownlee

Reviewers on The Verge, Wall Street Journal, and other outlets effectively panned the device for a number of reasons.

The camera is bad.
It has no screen.
The battery gets hot.
It doesn’t work in loud environments.
It doesn’t pair with my phone.
It’s too slow.
And the list goes on…

Marques Brownlee ripped the AI Pin a new one, and admitted the device is hamstrung by an imagined future.

Not So Fast

To review a new, obviously early adopter product, as a gadget that’s been around for years is a bit disingenuous. The AI Pin is a first of its kind, electronic device. Furthermore, it’s inspired by a future that’s easily 300 years away (the TNG Communicator). There’s an expected glitch factor that should be allowed.

Also, reviewing this product with 2 able arms, 2 able legs, and perfect vision and hearing is missing the beat as well. My immediate reaction to him actually interacting with the AI Pin would be that it would be a manageable assistive device for folks with vision impairments. He showed off the device’s multi-modal AI capability, and I was impressed. Marques asked the AI Pin to describe the room he was in. After some time; it took a while, the AI Pin recognized Marques’ environment and reported back. Slow but impressive.

For people who don’t get around a lot, and are insecure about movement because they are impaired, this is huge!

It’s almost as if people were reviewing the first cellphones with their 2 hours of battery life, bulk, and suitcases. They panned the devices for being inferior to land lines and no one should buy one. Only to have improved cellphones 1 year later, with really usable phones 2 or 3 years later. Instead of basking in the wonder of how a team of engineers could pack so much function into another device inspired by science fiction, reviewers fall into the Internet trap of panning well intentioned efforts and delivering a successful execution of a concept, even if its slow and not with the same capability of a smartphone that’s nearing it’s evolution.

The AI Pin costs $700 and has a subscription price of $24.99, but in a world of regularly priced $1,000 phones with $271 per month family plans the extra cost for what’s advertised as an early adopter and fashion device makes the critique seem petty.

The AI Pin is too early for broad consumption, but is a curiosity. I’m writing to Humane to try it out as an assistive device.

Stay tuned.