HP acquires Humane AI Pin assets for $116 million

HP bought the AI capabilities and intellectual property of the US-based startup Humane for $116 million. This acquisition includes the CosmOS AI operating system, more than 300 patents and patent applications, and the technical staff. These employees will join HP IQ, which is a new AI innovation lab within the company. The lab intends to build an intelligent ecosystem across HP products like AI PCs, smart printers, and connected conference rooms. Founders Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, who both worked at Apple, will help shape the future of intelligent experiences at HP. While the founders sought a sale between $750 million and $1 billion in May 2024, HP finalized the deal for only $116 million after the product failed to reach its 100,000 unit sales goal. Tuan Tran, the president of technology and innovation at HP, says this investment will accelerate the development of new devices that orchestrate AI requests locally and in the cloud.

The AI Pin became a brick for most customers on February 28, 2025. At 12:00 p.m. PT, the device lost all connections to the Humane servers. This disconnection means users cannot use calling, messaging, AI queries, or cloud access. The device only retains certain offline features like checking the battery level. Users must download all photos, videos, and notes from the device before the deadline to avoid losing data. Humane also stopped selling the gadget immediately. All customer data on the servers will be permanently deleted after the cutoff. Customers who bought the device within the last 90 days can request a refund, but they must submit their request by February 27. Anyone who bought a device before November 15, 2024, cannot get a refund.

The AI Pin suffered from significant performance issues from its launch in April 2024. The device had response latency between two and five seconds for routine queries. The laser projector display was difficult to read in many environments. The hardware overheated during extended use. Also, the charging case presented a fire safety risk in June. Initially, Humane offered replacements for the charging case, but the company now offers a refund for the portion of the purchase price allocated to the case. Marques Brownlee called the device the worst product he ever reviewed. The device intended to replace smartphones, but it could not handle basic tasks like translating phrases in Japanese and Korean.

Humane raised over $230 million in funding from investors such as Sam Altman and Marc Benioff. The company shipped fewer than 10,000 units. Between May and August, the number of returns exceeded the number of new sales. The company lost more than $1 million due to returned products. Lifetime sales for the AI Pin and its accessories reached just over $9 million. In June, only 8,000 units remained in the hands of customers. One source reported that the number of units in customer hands fell closer to 7,000. The company dropped the price of the device from $699 to $499 in October.

A T-Mobile limitation prevents Humane from reassigning a Pin to a new user. This restriction means the company cannot refurbish or resell returned devices. Returned items become electronic waste. This problem exists because the Pin cannot be reassigned once it is linked to a user. Most owners of the $699 device will not receive a refund. This situation creates a massive amount of e-waste from the 10,000 units that were shipped or returned. Environmental experts note that the glued-in battery design makes recycling these devices difficult.

The market for wearable AI in 2026 contains several different form factors.

The Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2 uses a 12-megapixel camera and five microphones. It has a weight of approximately 52 grams. The Rabbit R1 uses a scroll wheel and a screen. It uses a color called Leuchtorange. The Rabbit R1 faced mass returns after it failed to deliver on its demo promises. The Solos AirGo 3 offers ChatGPT integration and a swappable-hinge design. The Dymesty AI Glasses use an aerospace-grade titanium frame and weigh 35 grams.

The failure of the AI Pin fits a pattern of AI product failures in 2025 and 2026. OpenAI’s Sora burned $15 million per day in compute costs. Sora earned only $2.1 million in total lifetime revenue before it shut down in April 2026. The Rabbit R1 sold 100,000 units but struggled with mass returns and payroll. These products confused technological novelty with product-market fit. They launched capabilities that users did not need for daily workflows. The companies that survived the first wave of AI hardware focused on specific tasks like transcription or audio. They did not try to replace the entire phone.

The leadership at Humane also experienced significant changes before the acquisition. Tori Geiken, the director of customer experience, left the company. Jeremy Werner, the vice president of engineering, also left. Patrick Gates, the former CTO, and Ken Kocienda, the head of product engineering, left with little explanation. In January, Humane laid off 4 percent of its employees to cut costs. The company attempted to stabilize itself by adding Ruben Caballero as the chief engineering and strategy officer in June. You already know that hardware requires stability to survive. Will HP use the CosmOS software in its next generation of wearable devices? I recommend that consumers ignore any AI wearable that requires a mandatory monthly subscription to perform basic tasks.