Humane

Established in 2017, Humane is developing a platform primarily involved in the creation and sale of consumer hardware, software, and services. The company works to create consumer products that benefit people by creating technology that puts people first. To do this, Humane is focused on developing products that offer an intuitive, natural feel, and whichthat offer artificial intelligence (AI) where people need it. The company is headquartered in San Francisco.

The two cofounders are a husband-and-wife team. Bongiorno, the company's CEO, worked as the software engineering director at Apple. Chaudhri, the company’s chairman and president, also worked at Apple for twenty years as a former director of design on products like the iPhone, the iPad, and the Mac.

Chase Coleman, a partner at Tiger Global, said in a statement:

Imran Chaudhri worked at Apple from 1995 to 2016 and has different patents for user interface inventions. One of them includes the “slide to unlock” patent. The Humane chairman is also responsible for iPhone’s home screen design, alongside other macOS and iOS conventions. Bethany Bongiorno worked at Apple from 2008 to 2016 and led software development for the iPhone, iPad, and the Mac. They both attended WWDC 2016 to demo novel features in Messages, and that marked a major public appearance during their time at the company. They left a few months later.

Chaudhri and Bongiorno possess different patents credited to them down from their time at Apple to the inception of Humane. As atof 2022, Humane had not released any products or gavegiven any in-depth descriptions of the work it had been creating. The company's website carries an extensive list of patents. One patent is for a “wearable multimedia device and cloud computing platform with laser projection system” and another is for a “system and apparatus for fertility and hormonal cycle awareness.”

In November 2023, Humane launched the company's first product: The AI Pin. The device is a wearable offered as a square device and a battery pack, which magnetically attach to the user's clothes or other surfaces. The AI Pin is initially sold for USD $700, while a $24 monthly fee gets a user access to the AI system, as well as data coverage and a phone number offered through T-Mobile's network in the United States.

The pin itself is a fairly simple device powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and controlled with a combination of voice control, a camera, gestures, and a small built-in projector. The pin also has a built-in camera capable of taking 13-megapixel photos or capturing video. The device uses an operating system, called Cosmos, which is designed to route a usersuser's query to the right tool rather than asking the user to manage several apps. And the operating system connects to several AI models, with mentions including Microsoft and OpenAI, including a focus on using GPT-4.

Established in 2017, Humane is developing a platform primarily involved in the creation and sale of consumer hardware, software, and services.

Established in 2017, Humane is developing a platform primarily involved in the creation and sale of consumer hardware, software, and services. The company works to create consumer products that benefit people by creating technology that puts people first. To do this, Humane is focused on developing products that offer an intuitive, natural feel, and which offer artificial intelligence (AI) where people need it. The company is headquartered in San Francisco.

Humane was founded in 2017, but it closed a $30 million Series A funding round three years later in September 2020 at a $150 million valuation. Before that, Humane had raised just under $12 million. On September 2021, the company announced that it raised $100 million in a Series B round. Tiger Global Management led the round with participation from SoftBank Group, BOND, Forerunner Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures LLC, and others. The Series B funding will allow Humane to scale its operations and execute its human- and computing-related mission.

Humane cofounders Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno said:

“Humane is a place where people can truly innovate through a genuine collaboration of design and engineering. We’re building the devices and the platform for what we call the intelligence age. We are committed to building a different type of company, founded on our values of trust, truth and joy. With the support of our partners, we will continue to scale the team with individuals who not only share our passion for revolutionizing the way we interact with computing, but also for how we build.”

Chaudhri and Bongiorno possess different patents credited to them down from their time at Apple to the inception of Humane. As at 2022, Humane had not released any products or gave any in-depth descriptions of the work it had been creating. The company's website carries an extensive list of patents. One patent is for a “wearable multimedia device and cloud computing platform with laser projection system” and another is for a “system and apparatus for fertility and hormonal cycle awareness.”

According to the patent, the laser projection can label objects, provide text or instructions related to the objects, and provide an ephemeral user interface (e.g., a keyboard, numeric key pad, device controller) that allows the user to compose messages, control other devices, or simply share and discuss content with others.

The company’s product includes a camera, a 3D camera, and a depth sensor. The combination of the three components led to the identification of objects in the real world and the application of digital imagery to them. The product patent also portrays a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, a heart rate sensor, and a way to connect headphones.

In November 2023, Humane launched the company's first product: The AI Pin. The device is a wearable offered as a square device and a battery pack which magnetically attach to the user's clothes or other surfaces. The AI Pin is initially sold for USD $700 while a $24 monthly fee gets a user access to the AI system, as well as data coverage and a phone number offered through T-Mobile's network in the United States.

Example of where the AI Pin is expected ot be worn.

The pin itself is a fairly simple device powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and controlled with a combination of voice control, a camera, gestures, and a small built-in projector. The pin also has a built-in camera capable of taking 13-megapixel photos or capturing video. The device uses an operating system, called Cosmos, which is designed to route a users query to the right tool rather than asking the user to manage several apps. And the operating system connects to several AI models, with mentions including Microsoft and OpenAI, including a focus on using GPT-4.

Example of the AI Pin's intended user interface projected on a wearer's hand.

The goal with Humane's AI Pin is to strip away all interface from technology. It has no home screen or lots of settings or accounts to manage. Rather, the concept behind the AI Pin is to talk or touch the pin, say what the individual wants it to do, and for the AI Pin to do it automatically. The features mentioned in the release of the AI Pin included voice-based messaging and calling, a "catch me up" feature to summarize an email inbox, and real-time translation. Otherwise, it offers features similar to an LLM-powered search engine, and Humane has noted plans to add navigation capabilities, shopping capabilities, and tools to allow developers to build their own features.

Established in 2017, Humane is developing a platform primarily involved in the creation and sale of consumer hardware, software, and services.