(Angel Garcia/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
HP is buying technology from Humane, a startup that developed a Star Trek-like smart pin that flopped amid negative reviews and a $699 price tag.
HP announced it will spend $116 million to acquire “key AI capabilities from Humane," as well as absorb the startup’s staff and over 300 patents and patent applications.
Bloomberg also reports that Humane’s AI pin business will be wound down. But the startup’s technology will live on through upcoming AI-infused products from HP.
"This investment will rapidly accelerate our ability to develop a new generation of devices that seamlessly orchestrate AI requests both locally and in the cloud,” HP President of Technology and Innovation Tuan Tran said in the announcement.
Specifically, HP plans to harness “CosmOS,” the operating system that Humane built to help users tap into different AI agents on their devices. “Humane’s AI platform Cosmos, backed by an incredible group of engineers, will help us create an intelligent ecosystem across all HP devices from AI PCs to smart printers and connected conference rooms,” Tran added.
Humane didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But in the announcement, Humane’s co-founders, Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri, said they are “excited” to join HP. As part of the deal, HP is establishing a new AI innovation lab, dubbed HP IQ, that’ll be staffed by former Humane engineers and employees.
Humane's demise is a cautionary tale for new AI products; the San Francisco startup created a lot of hype in 2023 while debuting a smart pin device that was meant to replace smartphones. The resulting product was designed to mainly interface solely through an AI voice assistant. But reviews blasted the smart pin for its slow processing speeds and shoddy implementation. It also didn’t help that the product could pose a fire hazard.
By May 2024, the company was already looking to sell, originally for $1 billion. Humane's site also discontinued sales for the smart pin.