Just months after the high-profile and critically panned launch of its AI Pin, hardware startup Humane is reportedly exploring a sale of the company. According to a report from Bloomberg, the company is seeking a price between $750 million and $1 billion and has hired a financial advisor to manage the process.
Founded by former Apple veterans Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, Humane raised over $240 million from a roster of high-profile investors, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The company generated significant buzz with its vision for a screen-less, AI-native device intended to reduce reliance on smartphones. The AI Pin, a small, wearable device that projects a laser display onto the user’s hand, promised seamless interaction with artificial intelligence for tasks like messaging, search, and real-time translation.
However, its commercial launch in April was met with overwhelmingly negative reviews from tech critics and early adopters. Prominent reviewers, including Marques Brownlee (MKBHD), labeled the product “the worst product I’ve ever reviewed,” citing major issues with its core functionality. Users reported that the device was slow, provided inaccurate information, had poor battery life, and was prone to overheating.
The potential sale marks a dramatic turn for a company once valued as a leader in the next wave of personal computing. It underscores the immense challenges of building and launching a new hardware category, even with significant funding and a compelling vision. The failure of the AI Pin to live up to its own hype serves as a cautionary tale for the burgeoning AI hardware market, demonstrating that a slick design and ambitious promises cannot overcome fundamental performance and usability flaws. While the sale process is said to be in its early stages and may not result in a deal, the news casts a serious shadow over the future of both the AI Pin and the company behind it.
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