Pricey AI Pins are being returned quicker than they are sold: ‘It just doesn’t work’
Pin this as a questionable product.
A bulky, expensive piece of wearable technology is being returned faster than it can be sold.
Humane’s AI Pin, which retails between $700 and $800 — plus a $24 monthly subscription for $288 annually — has seen all but about 7,000 units sent back to the company so far, The Verge reported.
To date, about 10,000 Pins and accessories have been shipped, according to the outlet.
Months ago upon release, the device, meant to be a camera-guided virtual assistant, had been panned heavily by reviewers.
The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern described the huge lapel accessories as “Your grandma’s heavy brooch designed by Iron Man’s stylist.”
“What did I do to deserve this? The error messages. The delayed response times. The always-dead batteries,” she continued. “My 2-year-old heard the Humane Pin say ‘Input passcode’ so many times he started running around the house yelling it.”
In total, the company has reportedly seen $1 million in returns — and 1,000 of its units were canceled even before they were shipped.
Adding insult to injury, there currently is no way to refurbish the returned models.
“We knew we were at the starting line, not the finish line” when the AI Pin launched, spokesperson Zoz Cuccias told The Verge, adding that software updates were made to “address user feedback.”
In its own review, the outlet stated point-blank in a headline: “There’s only one problem: it just doesn’t work.”
The company’s leadership, reported to be in flux by The Verge, also appears to have missed early warning signs reported by product testers.
Users called it both “disorienting” and “frustrating” and griped that it worked nothing like seen in a corporate demonstration video.
Feedback like that “ripped through the company like a bullet,” per the outlet.
