The problem with joining public betas that you are expected to pay for is that the beta may end at any time — and if the thing you bought depended on online services, well, you may just be out of luck:

AI hardware startup Humane has given its users just ten (10!) days notice that their Pins will be disconnected. In a note to its customers, the company said AI Pins will “continue to function normally” until 12PM PT on February 28. On that date, users will lose access to essentially all of their device’s features, including but not limited to calling, messaging, AI queries and cloud access.

This is not a humane killing (sorry, not sorry).

This is the nature of many new tech products: they depend on online services, and if those services are discontinued, the physical product that you have becomes basically useless. This is why friends don’t let friends buy IoT / “smart” devices.

When I discussed the original Humane launch, I flagged the dependence on remote services as being an issue:

Humane […] were too opinionated in taking on the phone. A device like the AI Pin but that operated in conjunction with the phone would be a lot more compelling to users. Such a simplified device would be able to avoid many of the issues that bedevil the actual AI Pin by offloading those features to the phone, which is demonstrably very good at them already, instead of wasting scarce development resources in trying to reinvent the wheel in ways that do not help users.

At the time I did not call out resilience of the product as being a benefit of working with a local phone rather than depending entirely on remote services. Simply put, I never expected the thing to take off to the point that it would actually matter. The people who did buy one got to play with something that embodied one particular vision of the future — and then chucked it in a drawer and never touched it again.

There are ”Right To Repair” proposals to force companies to open up the specifics of these back-end services to enable owners to emulate them and keep their devices running — but I don’t think there were ever enough Humane users to make that worth anyone’s while. At least they will still be able to check their battery after the end of the month:

After February 28, 2025, Ai Pin will still allow for offline features like battery level, etc., but will not include any function that requires cloud connectivity like voice interactions, AI responses, and .Center access.

A Humane AI Pin projecting the message "toner low"

The cherry on the cake is that Humane’s IP is being acquired by HP, a company that has zero track record of making consumer products that their owners do not want to set fire to immediately. Your next HP inkjet printer will now use Humane’s AI tech to circumvent your attempts to use third-party cartridges.

🖼️  Image from VCs Congratulating Themselves