The AI Gadget Debacle

Here's why you shouldn't expect any mind-blowing AI-powered gifts anytime soon.

- MARK WILSON

MOST LAPEL PINS ARE ORNAMENTAL. SOME are used to signal political or social affiliations. This one was going to change the world.

When AI hardware startup Humane let me into its San Francisco headquarters in November 2023 to show off its new AI Pin, the hype had been building for months. Companies across the tech ecosystem had been hinting at plans to unveil new AIdriven gadgets in the coming year, but none was more prominent than Humane. Led by former Apple executive Imran Chaudhri, the company had raised $230 million at an $850 million valuation. As I studied the candycolored Pins, arranged across tables like the product array at an Apple Store, the team described the capabilities of the new wearable, a post-iPhone device that could beam lasers onto your hand. I realized the company was heading for a crash when the feature they focused on the most was... asking the Pin for the weather.

The Pin was slow, screenless, and expensive-$699, plus a $24 monthly subscription. According to reports, by mid-2024, Humane had moved only a few thousand units, with returns outpacing sales. And the Pin wasn't the year's only AI gadget misfire. The Rabbit R1, a fluorescent orange, AI-enabled walkie-talkie (a collaboration by tech startup Rabbit and hypebeast hardware company Teenage Engineering), notched 100,000 units in preorders by early January. But when it shipped in April, reviewers noted that despite its playfully flashy exterior, R1's baseline AI tools, such as a smart camera, featured barely any intelligence. Many wondered why this device needed to exist when an app would do, and by September, only about 5,000 people were still using their Rabbit R1s at any given time.