I just don't get this, or any other "VUI"/voice-centric platform for that matter. The killer feature of the smartphone or watch isn't that it's the most convenient (which it is), it's that whatever you want to do on it is at least somewhat private. I don't want the guy next to me on the train to know I'm messaging Andrew, and he doesn't want to hear me message Andrew either. Asking me to speak out loud these commands removes that privacy. I think this type of "out loud interface" is the wrong direction for personal devices... forcing us to expose our "private selves" or conflate that with our "public selves" is really an area where humans need to draw the line, IMO.
This is why Alexa (and other voice assistants) are only really valuable in the home, and typically as communal devices... its mode is public by default. "What's the weather?", "Play The Beatles", "Add milk to my shopping list" are not expected to be private. How does a device like Humane offer us an "incognito mode", where everyone within earshot doesn't know exactly what I'm doing?
I agree with you. The killer innovation which will flip this is the ability to interact via hardware that takes sub-vocalisation as input. There's work being actively done in this area:
Yes, but we lack good input methods for on the go. Typing on the phone is ok for quick texts but not much more. AR has this issue as well. I tried things like chording keyboards etc but nothing really works and so lacking that, it’s going to be voice…
It's funny that the company was founded 6+ years ago and this product has been in development at least since that time, but all of a sudden it's all about AI? We really going to pretend all these features weren't shoveled in in the last 3 months by buying a ChatGPT API token?
Recognizing the food you are holding and coming up with a calorie count was the only part of the demo I found genuinely cool, but I also know that AI tech isn't far enough along to get anywhere close to accurate results right now in the real world.
Something like AI Pin might be ubiquitous like the smartphone at some point in the future, but right now isn't the time for it, and Humane may or may not be the company to eventually crack the code.
Apple will simply own this market as well, if it even becomes a market at all.
They are by far the best positioned company and everyone already is locked in to the hardware.
As soon as Siri becomes good by leveraging llm, Apple is bound to dominate here. You don't even need another device to get half of what this does. Next gen airpods/ apple watches provide similar use cases.
I'm not gonna lie, this type of technology is what I've been looking forward to ever since watching the movie Her. As a first generation of the technology, it definitely has some issues and oddities, but I think those could be easy enough to work out with future iterations and updates.
A more natural speaking voice. Bluetooth earphones for a more personal interaction experience with the device (maybe even control with your hand in front of the camera and receive audio feedback through the earphones)? Color projector with more fidelity as a new form of interaction (can use it like a screen for short periods, but it's not the main interaction method).
I'd also think some advancements for on-device processing of daily life/events could be really helpful. For example, being able to have it sync to a cloud drive as a repository of my docs (like Google NotebookLM), or holding up a piece of paper in front of it and having it record it and process that info. Just so it's able to better operate as an analogue of a real life PERSONAL assistant, rather than an assistant that just searches the internet for me and tells me what's on my phone.
I don't want to get my hopes up, and it definitely has a tough road ahead of it to disrupt the industry, but I think it really could become an incredibly useful product.
From a consumer standpoint, I do not see the main advantages of this device over a better designed smartwatch or a smart wristband. The main interface, i.e. the projection onto the hand is a very novel and innovative concept but also blurry and cumbersome. A watch would also technically be able to perform all the function shown here. And personally, with how much we are all in need of a smartphone, might as well make something like a smart bracer. That would give all the space needed for the battery and screen and computation and roll everything into one, phone, watch, AI, etc.
Their demo of AI Q&A in the announcement video (@3:36) is totally wrong. The Pin says the April 2024 total eclipse will be best viewed from Australia and East-Timor... Except the eclipse passes over the US and will be nowhere near Australia. The answer seems to be about a partial eclipse in April 2023. How was that not fact checked???
That's what you get when your futuristic "AI pin" works by making an API request to an off-the-shelf LLM (ChatGPT I assume) that was last trained a year ago.
The demo was showing how you can interact with it. I don't think this is a big deal. If they're using GPT-4 or another model, then it will be resolved when the AI model is.
My gut tells me this is going to crash and burn in a hilarious way.
Not only is it worse than holding a smartphone while being less useful, street kids are going to pull these off people at a phenomenal rate, leaving people with just unhappy memories alongside a battery pack swimming somewhere inside their jumper.
> street kids are going to pull these off people at a phenomenal rate, leaving people with just unhappy memories alongside a battery pack swimming somewhere inside their jumper.
I can't believe I didn't think of this.
Imagine a dev conference for these things... The first headline would be "Humane AI Pin Developers Cleaned Out". A group of bad actors could (would) just run down a line/through a room and snatch these one after the other with nothing more than a weak magnet slowing them down.
Yes they can be locked down but even with Apple and Google-level measures implemented over the years phones still get stolen to be sent to China (or wherever) and parted out for pennies on the dollar for the thief. There's also the usual problem of a lot of this being opportunity/impulse crime and a lot of criminals are just going to think "I don't know what that is, looks expensive", grab it, and see what they can get for it later.
This is probably the best example of the "Silicon Valley elites in their bubble disconnected from the real world" tropes that are always floating around.
A lot of the interactions seem to take longer vs me just taking my phone out and quickly doing what I need to do. Its compelling given this is a v1 of the product so it will only get better from here but not completely sold on it just yet.
so it's like a phone, but there's no apps or functionality other than what's built into the base OS, and there's no screen or input controls other than voice and gesture, it only plays music from Tidal, and only connects to t-mobile, and looks to everybody around me like i'm always wearing a camera pointed at them?
They ask it where the next eclipse is, and where best to watch it. They got the date right, but the suggested locations of Timor and Australia are not in the eclipse path. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2024-april-8
I can't see this being a hit in any significant way. You will NOT want to use this in public. Why would you want people listening to you dictate, which is the only input option? Why would anyone feel comfortable around you if you were wearing a camera badge?
I think the founders undermined this product with their launch strategy, first showcasing it on a TED talk briefly without fully exposing the hardware, then about a month later in a fashion show? Then now they make this half baked video that immediately goes into talking about the hardware yet the whole selling point of the device is the software Ai capabilities.
People have been eagerly waiting to hear what this secretive startup company has been working all these years, especially after the recent funding rounds. All of this to be disappointed with a half baked v1 and launch video.
All that aside, I think it's brave of them to enter a competitive market and introduce a unique product that could have potential but at this price point, I'll have to pass. Hope future iterations get better and continues to grow.
Congratulations to all the team at Humane who's been working on this over the years, especially those who took the risk of leaving Apple to join a startup.
Had the same feeling. This had all the hallmarks of vaporware for me - something was introduced in a TED talk (that's a personal turn off). No clear definition or description. Then the fashion show, and for what? Building "buzz"? About what? Then I started hearing some chatter about it but still no info on what it is. I felt like someone wanted me to get excited about it but provided no value whatsoever.
Now, this thing's introduced and what? The laser interface seems clunky, no idea how it holds up on a bright day outside. Most of the interactions are done by voice which, at least for me, have never been satisfactory on way more powerful and polished devices. Then there's the privacy - I'm assuming that for this thing to work I need to give it access to everything. How long has this company been operating and battle testing its security? How good or bad its track record is with regard to selling my data? And yes, I know that my smartphone already knows everything about me. But those things are built by either Apple or Google which at least have some track record and I know what I can expect from them, more or less.
I still don't understand what am I getting here? What's the revolutionary, exciting thing? The AI? The lasers? The voice interface? The always-on-your-person?
If I remove the lasers, add a screen and a OpenAI/whateverLLM interface & integration I get what? An Apple Watch (or Google or whatever) that's 1-2 years out probably.
What's nice however that they're trying things. The laser thing does seem cool.
I couldn't agree with you more. The release strategy was...confusing? I guess is the best way to word it. But even this launch video which is supposed to introduce this groundbreaking new device to replace the smartphone feels homemade. The speaking is unnatural and too practiced, the awkward silences of waiting for a response feel uncomfortable. For a company named Humane, I'm getting uncanny valley vibes.
But I also understand this is how many new technologies releases go (lots of WTFs and lots of oohs and aahs). I think it really has potential, but the team will have to be adaptive and quick to respond to make sure the Pin can really grab hold of what the consumer wants.
$700 + $24/month for an uglier plastic name badge + police body camera. No thanks
Also:
To put on the Ai Pin involves placing a magnetic battery pack on the inside of a shirt or other piece of clothing, and letting a magnet on the Pin itself hold the system in place. It’s altogether about 55 grams, or 2 ounces, nearly the weight of a tennis ball. People with pacemakers should consult their doctors about potential magnetic interference, Chaudhri says.
It's pretty heavy and the backside of the clip is a magnetic battery pack.
Yay privacy out of the window...
AI wants to see and hear everything with access the Internet.
Otherwise its hell of an interesting concept!
Reminds me of the Robot Assistant in "flubber"
this is probably the most privacy-forward hardware device on the market—you have to physically be making contact with the device for it to begin listening (at which point an LED is prominently visible) and it will stop listening as soon as you break contact.
They say they don't listen for watchwords and only record video on demand. Good.
But that means their hypothetical calorie-count example only works if you actively remember "I am eating, I should tell the pin to record my eating". Same with many other things; the wrist-worn smart devices are useful exactly because they are always recording, they are somewhat ambient.
I understand why they do it, I even applaud them for thinking about privacy, it might even be necessary (cough..Google glass...cough), but I feel they have to walk a tightrope between a rock and a hard place to bring privacy-consciousness and useful features together.
Yeah I was thinking on similar lines when it comes to food tracking. I did a study last year on how food consumption correlates with certain psychological features, but the lack of good data made the study very hard to do.
Self reported data is always annoyingly unreliable.
This product would probably be better than self reporting, but not good enough.
The privacy issue is annoying thing. If it was a on-device ai model things might be easier to accept. But I such a device is further in to the future.
Very Star Trek-esque. It seems a bit clunky but a good first version. I could imagine this being pretty powerful in 5-10 years when everything is integrated and the AI can do almost anything you ask it. Until it can 100% replace the phone (which seems to be their aim) it seems like an extra device that’s a bit unnecessary.
I love the idea of some virtual daemon type AI assistant thingy that helps me with mundane day to day tasks via an intuitive natural language type interface. Sci-fi / cyberpunk authors have been writing about this stuff for decades and it's always seemed like super cool and useful tech to me.
That being said I positively LOATHE the idea of it being some cloud based subscription service, as inevitably, no matter how much the founders of these companies talk about privacy or security, it will become yet another corporate data harvester that spies on you and sells your personal information to the highest bidder, or provides a backdoor for governments or other non-state entities to surveil you. Money talks, and morals walk. Let's not forget Ring gives LEA footage from peoples door cameras just for asking nicely with no way for users to opt-out.
Personally, as much as I want something like this (Though the dorky badge format is a big miss for me) I will never, ever, EVER go for something like this unless I OWN the software and that software runs on hardware I OWN as well. I'm sure a lot of folks will get excited by this thing, but as it stands now it's just bog-standard run of the mill, every day dystopian nightmare fuel for me.
I’ve been wanting something like this for a long time (voice first with laser projecion). Somehow I’d envisioned it as a tiny pet monkey robot sitting on my shoulder.
When I first heard about the company I knew immediately it would be a Star Trek badge type device.
> Google learned a similar lesson in 2018 after it launched Google Clips, a body-worn camera that used algorithms to automatically snap photos. Female users tended to end up with an abundance of cloud shots when they intended to record what was in front of them, because the device was not designed to account for bodies with breasts
This feels like it could have been a classic Silicon Valley scene but I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that it was designed at Google's secret Castro office.
> Tapping the Pin and then moving a palm into its field of view activates its laser, which projects images and text onto a user’s hand at a wavelength that produces a blueish-green tinge, a 720p-resolution system Humane calls a Laser Ink Display. Tilting the hand navigates between displayed options and a swatting gesture swipes to a different menu. Users “click” on an option by tapping their thumb and index finger together and close their hand briefly to return to a home screen.
Okay, that's freaking cool. Anyone here willing to take the $700 plunge to test this? I want to know if it's as ridiculous as it sounds.
It's got a hardware light that tells you its active, what more do you want? You have your phone out all the time and it's got a camera facing people too
Then do some type of magic proximity sensor to begin capture, then detect if hand is facing in or out, to then wake. The tap and hold is too much, and the marketing interplay of magic wand wave as the open command could have made powerful ads.
That said, this is still the best glimpse of the future. Incredible job by the team
Agree. If they want this to be practical, they have to make it instantly project the image when I raise my hand with palm open towards the device. A gadget that actively make the user feel inconvenient when they want to use it would not be used at all.
I assume the problem is space. They are basically out of space for more features. I still pitch my idea for a smart bracer though. Like the thing in mass effect or the pipboy.
[+] [-] dang|2 years ago|reply
Humane AI Pin - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38208016 - Nov 2023 (206 comments)
[+] [-] hbosch|2 years ago|reply
This is why Alexa (and other voice assistants) are only really valuable in the home, and typically as communal devices... its mode is public by default. "What's the weather?", "Play The Beatles", "Add milk to my shopping list" are not expected to be private. How does a device like Humane offer us an "incognito mode", where everyone within earshot doesn't know exactly what I'm doing?
[+] [-] phs318u|2 years ago|reply
https://news.mit.edu/2018/computer-system-transcribes-words-...
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8104532
[+] [-] newaccount74|2 years ago|reply
People often discuss private topics on a train, and don't care that others might be listening.
People talk loudly on the phone when in public. Some even talk on speaker phone.
But noone ever talks to Siri or Google or Alexa in public.
Why is that?
[+] [-] anonzzzies|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] donpark|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cactusplant7374|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] paxys|2 years ago|reply
Recognizing the food you are holding and coming up with a calorie count was the only part of the demo I found genuinely cool, but I also know that AI tech isn't far enough along to get anywhere close to accurate results right now in the real world.
Something like AI Pin might be ubiquitous like the smartphone at some point in the future, but right now isn't the time for it, and Humane may or may not be the company to eventually crack the code.
[+] [-] impulser_|2 years ago|reply
Fun fact. It was completely wrong. That wasn't 15g of Protein. You would need like 3x that much for 15g of protein.
It was also wrong about the solar eclipse.
[+] [-] jdmoreira|2 years ago|reply
As soon as Siri becomes good by leveraging llm, Apple is bound to dominate here. You don't even need another device to get half of what this does. Next gen airpods/ apple watches provide similar use cases.
[+] [-] notaustinpowers|2 years ago|reply
A more natural speaking voice. Bluetooth earphones for a more personal interaction experience with the device (maybe even control with your hand in front of the camera and receive audio feedback through the earphones)? Color projector with more fidelity as a new form of interaction (can use it like a screen for short periods, but it's not the main interaction method).
I'd also think some advancements for on-device processing of daily life/events could be really helpful. For example, being able to have it sync to a cloud drive as a repository of my docs (like Google NotebookLM), or holding up a piece of paper in front of it and having it record it and process that info. Just so it's able to better operate as an analogue of a real life PERSONAL assistant, rather than an assistant that just searches the internet for me and tells me what's on my phone.
I don't want to get my hopes up, and it definitely has a tough road ahead of it to disrupt the industry, but I think it really could become an incredibly useful product.
[+] [-] polynomial|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tomohelix|2 years ago|reply
Do we have holograms tech yet?
[+] [-] nickrubin|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] paxys|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mkumar10|2 years ago|reply
Cause they aren't Apple, just the cheap knock-offs
[+] [-] gardenhedge|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nickrubin|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gizajob|2 years ago|reply
Not only is it worse than holding a smartphone while being less useful, street kids are going to pull these off people at a phenomenal rate, leaving people with just unhappy memories alongside a battery pack swimming somewhere inside their jumper.
[+] [-] kkielhofner|2 years ago|reply
I can't believe I didn't think of this.
Imagine a dev conference for these things... The first headline would be "Humane AI Pin Developers Cleaned Out". A group of bad actors could (would) just run down a line/through a room and snatch these one after the other with nothing more than a weak magnet slowing them down.
Yes they can be locked down but even with Apple and Google-level measures implemented over the years phones still get stolen to be sent to China (or wherever) and parted out for pennies on the dollar for the thief. There's also the usual problem of a lot of this being opportunity/impulse crime and a lot of criminals are just going to think "I don't know what that is, looks expensive", grab it, and see what they can get for it later.
This is probably the best example of the "Silicon Valley elites in their bubble disconnected from the real world" tropes that are always floating around.
[+] [-] dcreater|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ZeroSync|2 years ago|reply
https://vimeo.com/882968794
A lot of the interactions seem to take longer vs me just taking my phone out and quickly doing what I need to do. Its compelling given this is a v1 of the product so it will only get better from here but not completely sold on it just yet.
[+] [-] zwieback|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] notatoad|2 years ago|reply
pass
[+] [-] msftie|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cpeterso|2 years ago|reply
“No wake word so it’s not always listening”… you just activate it with your voice?
[+] [-] drcongo|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] poisonborz|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jaChEWAg|2 years ago|reply
People have been eagerly waiting to hear what this secretive startup company has been working all these years, especially after the recent funding rounds. All of this to be disappointed with a half baked v1 and launch video.
All that aside, I think it's brave of them to enter a competitive market and introduce a unique product that could have potential but at this price point, I'll have to pass. Hope future iterations get better and continues to grow.
Congratulations to all the team at Humane who's been working on this over the years, especially those who took the risk of leaving Apple to join a startup.
[+] [-] mszcz|2 years ago|reply
Now, this thing's introduced and what? The laser interface seems clunky, no idea how it holds up on a bright day outside. Most of the interactions are done by voice which, at least for me, have never been satisfactory on way more powerful and polished devices. Then there's the privacy - I'm assuming that for this thing to work I need to give it access to everything. How long has this company been operating and battle testing its security? How good or bad its track record is with regard to selling my data? And yes, I know that my smartphone already knows everything about me. But those things are built by either Apple or Google which at least have some track record and I know what I can expect from them, more or less.
I still don't understand what am I getting here? What's the revolutionary, exciting thing? The AI? The lasers? The voice interface? The always-on-your-person?
If I remove the lasers, add a screen and a OpenAI/whateverLLM interface & integration I get what? An Apple Watch (or Google or whatever) that's 1-2 years out probably.
What's nice however that they're trying things. The laser thing does seem cool.
edit: Commas, sentence structure.
[+] [-] notaustinpowers|2 years ago|reply
But I also understand this is how many new technologies releases go (lots of WTFs and lots of oohs and aahs). I think it really has potential, but the team will have to be adaptive and quick to respond to make sure the Pin can really grab hold of what the consumer wants.
[+] [-] Pulcinella|2 years ago|reply
Also:
To put on the Ai Pin involves placing a magnetic battery pack on the inside of a shirt or other piece of clothing, and letting a magnet on the Pin itself hold the system in place. It’s altogether about 55 grams, or 2 ounces, nearly the weight of a tennis ball. People with pacemakers should consult their doctors about potential magnetic interference, Chaudhri says.
It's pretty heavy and the backside of the clip is a magnetic battery pack.
[+] [-] shmatt|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jklinger410|2 years ago|reply
Hah, yeah man, that's totally what it is!
[+] [-] busssard|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lachyg|2 years ago|reply
this is probably the most privacy-forward hardware device on the market—you have to physically be making contact with the device for it to begin listening (at which point an LED is prominently visible) and it will stop listening as soon as you break contact.
[+] [-] kylebenzle|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pech0rin|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] simbolit|2 years ago|reply
But that means their hypothetical calorie-count example only works if you actively remember "I am eating, I should tell the pin to record my eating". Same with many other things; the wrist-worn smart devices are useful exactly because they are always recording, they are somewhat ambient.
I understand why they do it, I even applaud them for thinking about privacy, it might even be necessary (cough..Google glass...cough), but I feel they have to walk a tightrope between a rock and a hard place to bring privacy-consciousness and useful features together.
[+] [-] reliablereason|2 years ago|reply
Self reported data is always annoyingly unreliable.
This product would probably be better than self reporting, but not good enough.
The privacy issue is annoying thing. If it was a on-device ai model things might be easier to accept. But I such a device is further in to the future.
[+] [-] basisword|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rfwhyte|2 years ago|reply
That being said I positively LOATHE the idea of it being some cloud based subscription service, as inevitably, no matter how much the founders of these companies talk about privacy or security, it will become yet another corporate data harvester that spies on you and sells your personal information to the highest bidder, or provides a backdoor for governments or other non-state entities to surveil you. Money talks, and morals walk. Let's not forget Ring gives LEA footage from peoples door cameras just for asking nicely with no way for users to opt-out.
Personally, as much as I want something like this (Though the dorky badge format is a big miss for me) I will never, ever, EVER go for something like this unless I OWN the software and that software runs on hardware I OWN as well. I'm sure a lot of folks will get excited by this thing, but as it stands now it's just bog-standard run of the mill, every day dystopian nightmare fuel for me.
[+] [-] d--b|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] civilitty|2 years ago|reply
> Google learned a similar lesson in 2018 after it launched Google Clips, a body-worn camera that used algorithms to automatically snap photos. Female users tended to end up with an abundance of cloud shots when they intended to record what was in front of them, because the device was not designed to account for bodies with breasts
This feels like it could have been a classic Silicon Valley scene but I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that it was designed at Google's secret Castro office.
> Tapping the Pin and then moving a palm into its field of view activates its laser, which projects images and text onto a user’s hand at a wavelength that produces a blueish-green tinge, a 720p-resolution system Humane calls a Laser Ink Display. Tilting the hand navigates between displayed options and a swatting gesture swipes to a different menu. Users “click” on an option by tapping their thumb and index finger together and close their hand briefly to return to a home screen.
Okay, that's freaking cool. Anyone here willing to take the $700 plunge to test this? I want to know if it's as ridiculous as it sounds.
[+] [-] WithinReason|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jswny|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gumballindie|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] peanuty1|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anonymouse008|2 years ago|reply
Wave over wake
Then do some type of magic proximity sensor to begin capture, then detect if hand is facing in or out, to then wake. The tap and hold is too much, and the marketing interplay of magic wand wave as the open command could have made powerful ads.
That said, this is still the best glimpse of the future. Incredible job by the team
[+] [-] tomohelix|2 years ago|reply
I assume the problem is space. They are basically out of space for more features. I still pitch my idea for a smart bracer though. Like the thing in mass effect or the pipboy.