Artificial intelligence startup Humane is shutting down its wearable pin business and selling its assets to personal computer maker HP Inc for $116 million after getting disappointing reviews and lack of orders for the product.
The deal gives HP access to the startup’s Cosmos operating system, technical talent and intellectual property, helping beef up the personal computer maker’s AI portfolio amid a weak recovery in its core market.
The acquired talent will form HP’s new AI innovation lab focused on integrating Humane’s machine learning capabilities, HP said in a release on Tuesday.
The startup, founded by ex-Apple veterans, was one of many that looked to make a splash in the AI boom with its wearable AI pin that provided voice assistance to its users.
The company sought to position its product as a companion which could integrate AI into people’s everyday lives. The firm raised around $241 million from Microsoft, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and others.
But orders declined sharply following poor reviews from many early customers, including a scathing one from technology influencer Marques Brownlee, popularly known as MKBHD, who has nearly 20 million subscribers on YouTube.
At one point, returns for the company’s pins were outpacing its sales, the Verge reported last year.
Humane said in a blog post that the pin will function normally till February 28, after which the device will no longer connect to the company’s servers, rendering features like calling, messaging, and AI queries inactive.
Source: Reuters.com