Humane Inc.
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Consumer electronics |
| Founded | 2018 |
| Founder | Imran Chaudhri, Bethany Bongiorno |
| Fate | Acquired by HP (announced, transaction anticipated by February 2025) |
| Headquarters | San Francisco , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Imran Chaudhri (co-founder), Bethany Bongiorno (co-founder) |
| Products | AI Pin wearable virtual assistant |
Number of employees | 200 (2023) |
| Website | www |
Humane Inc. (presented as hu.ma.ne) was a U.S.-based consumer electronics firm established in 2018 by former Apple employees Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno. The company created the AI Pin, a wearable virtual assistant operated by voice commands, which started shipping in April 2024 but was met with unfavorable reviews. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Humane remained privately held and had approximately 200 employees by 2023. HP announced plans to acquire the company, with the transaction anticipated to finalize by February 2025. Currently, Humane’s website redirects visitors to HP IQ.
History
Founded in 2018 by Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno—both ex-Apple personnel—Humane emerged publicly from stealth mode in 2021. By November 2023, the startup had secured $230 million in funding from a range of investors such as Marc Benioff, Sam Altman, Tiger Global, Solstice, SoftBank, Qualcomm, Microsoft, LG, Volvo, and Salesforce. The company also forged strategic partnerships with Microsoft and OpenAI. Out of its workforce of about 200 employees, roughly 40% had prior experience at Apple. Humane’s Series B and C funding rounds each raised $100 million.
In January 2024, the company reduced its staff by 4%, laying off around ten employees. On May 22, 2024, Bloomberg reported that Humane was considering a sale valued between $750 million and $1 billion. The New York Times highlighted ongoing negotiations with HP. In February 2025, HP agreed to acquire most of Humane for $116 million, including the majority of its workforce, software infrastructure, and intellectual property such as the AI Pin’s CosmOS operating system along with over 300 patents. The AI Pin hardware business was excluded from this deal and subsequently discontinued. Founders Chaudhri and Bongiorno joined HP to lead AI integration efforts within HP products under the newly formed HP IQ division.
Design
The AI Pin is designed as a wearable gadget consisting of two magnetically connected components—the front housing processing units and the rear battery pack—that attach to clothing near the chest area. It operates as a voice-controlled AI assistant combined with cellular phone capabilities and includes a camera, speaker, motion sensors, plus a green monochrome 720p "Laser Ink" projector screen that enables hand gesture interaction. Users mainly interact via a touchpad occupying most of the device’s front surface and through gestures detected while the projection is active; tapping this touchpad activates voice recognition. Access to AI-powered cloud services requires a $24 monthly subscription. Music streaming is limited to Tidal, and the device runs on CosmOS, a proprietary Android-based operating system. The design intent was to minimize users’ dependency on traditional phone screens.
Imran Chaudhri introduced the product during a TED Talk in May 2023, followed by presentations at Paris Fashion Week in September. The name "Humane AI Pin" was officially revealed in July 2023. The product launched on November 9, 2023, with sales starting one week later at a price of $699. Prior to release, the AI Pin was recognized among Time's Best 200 Inventions of 2023; notably, Time co-chairs Marc and Lynne Benioff were investors in Humane.
Shipping commenced in April 2024. Despite internal doubts regarding marketing effectiveness, Humane aimed for sales of 100,000 units by year-end but managed only around 10,000 shipments by August. Reports indicated that returns exceeded sales between May and August. On October 23, 2024, the price dropped to $499 (excluding accessories). Additionally, on October 31, a Charge Case Accessory was recalled due to fire hazards linked to its lithium battery.
Internal documents revealed that employee concerns about product viability were dismissed by founders Chaudhri and Bongiorno, who prioritized optimism over critical feedback. This approach contributed to staff departures and at least one termination related to negative commentary on product readiness.
By February 2025, Humane halted AI Pin sales and announced that device connectivity to servers would cease after February 28, effectively rendering them nonfunctional. Customer data stored on company servers was deleted. Humane offered refunds for units shipped after November 15, 2024, and encouraged customers to recycle the devices responsibly.
Reception
Reviews of the AI Pin were largely negative; while its physical design earned some praise, critics highlighted issues such as limited battery endurance, inadequate thermal management, and questionable practical value of features. According to The New York Times, overheating problems led executives at Humane to resort to ice packs for cooling during demonstrations. The Times’ Tech Fix column described the device as exhibiting "obvious flaws" and frequently being "inaccurate, unhelpful or inefficient." The Verge reported that after thorough testing, telling time was the only consistently reliable function; meanwhile, Inverse observed slow response times for simple queries. Fast Company characterized the user experience as a "UX disaster."
Popular tech reviewer Marques Brownlee famously described it as "The Worst Product I've Ever Reviewed... For Now." Comparisons often placed the AI Pin unfavorably against everyday smartphones. Lead engineer Ken Kocienda acknowledged user frustrations but noted he personally used the device regularly, likening its shortcomings to those found in laptops or phones. Due to heating concerns, Humane recommended limiting projector usage to under nine minutes at a time.