The first batch of AI hardware has already died.
In the current era when the AI wave is sweeping the globe, who could have imagined that an AI hardware device once hailed as the "killer of smartphones" would plummet from the peak to the bottom in just one year?
In April 2024, the AI Pin launched by Humane, an AI device company, with its innovative brooch-style design and AI interaction functions, once set off a storm in the tech circle. The pre-sales were booming, and the media rushed to report on it.
However, just a few months later, this product faced a large number of returns and complaints about its functions. Finally, in February 2025, HP acquired its assets for $116 million, the company was essentially shut down, and the product was delisted.
This is not just the end of a startup story, but also a question for the AI track: When capital frenzy meets technological bottlenecks, is it the "real fire" burning or the "false fire" at play?
The Sudden Fall of an AI Hardware Star
Imagine spending $699 on a device the size of a brooch that can project information onto your palm, translate languages in real-time, and identify objects and provide suggestions. Sounds like a sci-fi black technology, right?
This was the selling point of the AI Pin when it was launched in April 2024. This startup founded by two former Apple executives quickly became the focus with the star aura of its founders and the avant-garde design of the product.
Before the product was released, Humane had raised a total of $230 million in financing and had a valuation of up to $850 million. The investors included many big names in the industry. Media reports said that the pre-sale orders of the AI Pin were once booming, and it was even hyped up to a high price on online trading platforms.
However, the good times didn't last long. Soon after its launch, a flood of user feedback came in: the battery only lasted for a few hours, the device overheated and became unusable, the voice recognition accuracy was low, and the projection function almost failed outdoors.
Worse still, in August 2024, a well-known US tech media website reported that Humane's return rate was astonishing, and almost all the sold devices were returned, leaving the company with a mountain of inventory.
In February 2025, Humane announced that it would sell most of its assets and employees to HP for only $116 million, far lower than its peak valuation.
This means that after burning through $230 million in investment, Humane ended up with a "fire sale." The AI Pin product will be delisted, and existing users can only get limited refunds or support services.
After that, its official website once showed "unavailable" in some regions, the updates of its social accounts stagnated, and the founders rarely appeared in public, which triggered industry speculation about "running away."
This incident quickly made the headlines of major tech media. The reports said that this marked the "burst of the AI hardware bubble." The New York Times analyzed the whole process of Humane from delaying the shipment (originally scheduled for October 2023, postponed to April 2024) to its final collapse.
The media commented that the failure of the AI Pin lies in ignoring the smartphones in users' pockets. It tried to replace the phone but couldn't even do the basic functions well. Some media even pointed out that HP's acquisition was more like a bargain hunt, aiming to absorb Humane's patents and technical team rather than continuing the product itself.
This incident not only shocked Silicon Valley but also made investors and consumers start to reflect: How much of the "revolutionary" promise of AI hardware is real?
The Inside Story from Frenzy to Collapse
Humane's fall is not an isolated case. In 2024, a similar AI hardware device, the Rabbit R1, also suffered a similar fate. This handheld device priced at $199 claimed to be able to perform tasks through an AI agent, such as ordering food or calling a car, but was rated as a "semi-finished product" by the media, with problems such as security vulnerabilities and lack of functions. Although the Rabbit company is still updating the software, many users of the 40,000 pre-sold devices chose to return them.
In the year-end review in 2024, the media listed the Rabbit R1 and the Humane AI Pin as the "top three hardware failures of the year," emphasizing that they exposed the huge gap between the concept and the implementation of AI hardware.
Recalling the rise of the AI Pin, it seemed that overnight, AI hardware became a hot commodity in the investment circle. In 2023, before the product was even launched, Humane attracted attention through a star-studded press conference.
The founding couple demonstrated the "palm projection" function of the AI Pin in their speech, which instantly went viral on social media.
Investors flocked to it. Why? According to data from professional institutions, Humane's financing process showed that in the early rounds, investors mainly valued the Apple background of the founders - one was the former software director of the iPad, and the other was involved in the design of the iPhone. The concept of "screenless interaction" they promised fit the narrative of "replacing smartphones" in the AI boom at that time. The founder of OpenAI said in an interview that he invested in Humane because "it represents the leap of AI from software to hardware," while another investor was optimistic about its potential in enterprise-level applications.
The marketing strategy also added fuel to the fire. Humane cooperated with KOLs and released cool demonstration videos on Instagram and TikTok, creating an atmosphere of "hard to get."
The product promotion emphasized "hands-free," but subsequent analysis showed that many functions, such as real-time translation, actually relied on cloud AI and were not unique to the hardware. The New York Times reported that nearly 30% of the demonstrations in Humane's marketing were post-edited, exaggerating the actual performance.
This "trend" was not exclusive to Humane.
In 2024, similar projects like the Rabbit R1 became popular overnight through exhibitions, selling 10,000 units on the first day of pre-sale. There was also a neck-worn device that raised millions in financing, promoting itself as a "memory assistant that never forgets." The common feature of these projects was to ride on the wave of large AI models (such as GPT-4) and package themselves as "revolutionary hardware," but the underlying technical barriers were not high, and they relied more on concept hype. The 2024 data from the Stanford AI Index Report showed that the investment in AI hardware in 2023 increased by 13 times, and the valuations of many projects were inflated, deviating from actual applications.
Finally, the "storm" came unexpectedly. A former employee of Humane revealed that there had been frequent chaos within the company since the end of 2023: the technological R & D stagnated, and the problem of overheating batteries remained unsolved after repeated tests; the capital chain was tight, with a monthly burn rate of up to millions, but they couldn't turn a profit due to the delayed delivery.
Feedback from suppliers showed that the yield rate of Humane's laser projection module was only 70%.
Industry experts pointed out that the technical path of the AI Pin was untenable from the start - relying on high-power consumption chips without an effective heat dissipation design, which led to a collapse in the user experience. In a review in May 2024, the media directly "unveiled" its functions: the voice response delay was up to 10 seconds, far exceeding that of smartphones; the object recognition accuracy was less than 80%. These problems accumulated and finally erupted in the wave of user returns.
The whereabouts of the founders are also thought-provoking. After the acquisition, the two founders joined HP and continued with AI projects, but netizens complained that it was like a "decent exit." Their past experiences were originally an advantage, but they also planted hidden dangers: lacking experience in supply chain management after leaving Apple's resources led to delays.
Similar to the Rabbit R1, its founder admitted in an interview that they had ignored security vulnerabilities in the early stage, such as the API exposing user data. A report in 2025 listed that 90% of AI startups failed in 2024 due to insufficient market demand and high costs, and Humane was a typical example.
These inside stories tell us that the "trend" of AI hardware is often the result of the combination of capital and marketing, while the "storm" stems from the disconnection between technology and operation. Humane's case is like a mirror, reflecting the pain points of the industry.
Who Will Be the Next "Humane"?
After Humane's collapse, the AI hardware track has not cooled down. Instead, it has entered a stage of "weeding out the false and retaining the true."
The currently popular sub - field of AI glasses is playing out a similar scenario. Take the Ray - Ban Meta smart glasses as an example. Launched in 2023, they are integrated with an AI assistant and can take photos and translate. The sales volume exceeded 300,000 pairs. However, problems have also emerged: concerns about privacy (the camera can record at any time) and the battery lasting less than a day.
In a review in 2025, the media said that its market prospect was optimistic, and it was expected that the AR glasses market would reach $50 billion in 2025, but it needed to solve the problems of comfort and function integration. Another product, the Xreal Air 2, focuses on AR display and has raised $120 million in financing, but it faces the problem of a lack of content ecosystem, and users reported "feeling dizzy after wearing it for a long time."
Who might follow in Humane's footsteps? The Friend AI Pendant, a neck - worn device launched in 2024, promoted as an "emotional companion AI," raised millions in financing, but media analysis pointed out that its business model relied on subscriptions and had no unique technology, so it was easily replaceable by mobile apps. In contrast, the Oppo Air Glass 3 stood out with its lightweight design and was praised in the demonstration, but it needed to be vigilant about supply chain risks. According to relevant data, the failure rate of AI hardware in 2025 may reach 85%, and the key lies in whether it can survive the cycle.
Investors have become more rational. The 2024 AI Trend Report showed that after the Humane incident, capital favored projects with ecological support, such as hardware cooperating with NVIDIA. Industry observers suggested that projects need to prove their "real fire" - such as a sustainable profit model and technical barriers. IBM's 2024 trend report emphasized that hardware needs to be integrated into existing devices rather than innovating in isolation.
For consumers, how to avoid pitfalls? Don't be dazzled by "revolutionary" concepts. When making a purchase, look at actual reviews: Is the battery durable? Are the functions practical?
Take the Ray - Ban Meta as an example. User stories showed that it was very convenient for translating menus during travel, but the privacy settings needed to be adjusted manually. Some media warned that AI hardware is likely to become electronic waste, and Humane's $700 device is now just a decoration. It is recommended to start with a small - scale subscription, try it out before buying, and pay attention to the feedback from the open - source community to avoid being "ripped off."
Humane's fall is the starting point of the "value return" of AI hardware.
In the future, those who can turn the "false fire" into the "real fire" may lie in balancing innovation and pragmatism.
This article is from the WeChat public account "NEXT Trend", author: Fang Yuan. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.