Latest news with #HumaneAI
Phone Arena
22-05-2025
- Phone Arena
Forget screens: more details emerge on the mysterious Jony Ive + OpenAI device
Concept image of what this Jony Ive + OpenAI collab AI device might look like. | Image credit — @BenGeskin (X) Ming-Chi Kuo, a well-known industry analyst, has shared early details about the mysterious AI hardware product being developed by OpenAI in collaboration with former Apple design chief Jony Ive. While the announcement of this partnership has already stirred curiosity, Kuo's latest insights paint a clearer picture of the device and raise some familiar to Kuo's post on X, the product is still in its early stages, with mass production not expected to begin until 2027. The current prototype is reportedly a compact, screenless gadget with a form factor that's slightly larger than the Humane AI Pin. He compares its size and elegance to the iPod Shuffle, and mentions one proposed use case involves wearing it around the neck . It will rely on built-in cameras and microphones to detect its surroundings, and will offload computing and display tasks to a connected smartphone or PC. Assembly is likely to take place in Vietnam, which Kuo says is meant to reduce geopolitical risks tied to China-based manufacturing. This description is a bit at odds with the Wall Street Journal report that this device wouldn't be "something to wear on the body" in any form. However, I guess that depends on whether having something hanging from your neck can be considered as "not on your body." Video credit — OpenAI What will it look like, though? An unofficial concept design based on Kuo's description is already circulating, offering a first visual impression of what this device could look like. I'm including that image just to give a better sense of the device's potential design direction, but keep in mind that this is just one artist's interpretation and by no means an official take. With Jony Ive leading the effort, expectations are understandably high that the hardware will push boundaries in a way earlier attempts did not. Mind-Chi Kuo on Jony Ive and Sam Altman's AI device:• The current prototype is slightly larger than the AI Pin, with a form factor as compact and elegant as an iPod Shuffle.• One of the intended use cases is wearing the device around the neck. • It will have cameras and… — Ben Geskin (@BenGeskin) May 22, 2025 That said, it's already very evident that the public is uncertain about where this is going. Devices like the AI Pin and Rabbit R1 have already tried to bring physical AI into our daily lives but failed to find a broad audience. They often felt more like experiments than essential tools, raising the question of whether people really want standalone AI gadgets. Even so, the push toward physical AI is gaining momentum. Kuo suggests that OpenAI's public reveal of the project may have been strategically timed to shift attention away from Google I/O, where Google showcased deep AI integration across its products. It's a reminder that OpenAI still has work to do in building a hardware ecosystem. The idea of a minimalist, AI-powered companion is exciting on paper. I think that its potential to succeed, where others fell short, might depend on whether Jony Ive's design vision can turn curiosity into real demand.
Indian Express
22-05-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
OpenAI buys iPhone designer Ive's hardware startup, names him creative head
OpenAI is buying Jony Ive's startup io Products in a $6.5 billion deal and will bring the chief designer of early iPhones on board as creative head to develop devices tailored for the generative artificial intelligence era. LoveFrom, the design firm founded by Ive after leaving Apple, has been working with OpenAI for two years on generative AI devices – an area where startups have stumbled due to high computing demands, including flops such as Humane's AI Pin. With Ive leading design, OpenAI aims to pair the technology behind its popular ChatGPT chatbot with the product design expertise that made devices such as the iPhone bestsellers. The companies did not disclose the financial details of the deal for io, which Ive co-founded a year ago. The all-stock deal was valued at $6.5 billion based on OpenAI's $300 billion valuation, according to a source familiar with the matter. OpenAI had previously owned a 23% stake in the company, according to the source who requested anonymity to discuss private matters. 'The products that we're using to deliver and connect us to unimaginable technology. They're decades old, yeah, and so it's just common sense to at least think surely there's something beyond these legacy products we have,' OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Ive said in a video posted on OpenAI's blog. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The news weighed on Apple's shares, which were down 2%. A few companies such as Humane AI and Rabbit have tried to build bespoke devices for the AI era. However, Humane AI, founded by a former Apple executives, struggled with its AI Pin device, which faced criticism for battery life, heat issues, limited functionality and high costs. HP acquired Humane AI's assets, including its AI platform Cosmos, intellectual property and technical talent for $116 million, effectively discontinuing the AI Pin product. Rabbit, on the other hand, has sold more than 100,000 of r1 devices, but reviewers have said functionality remains limited when compared with smartphones.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
OpenAI buys iPhone designer Ive's hardware startup, names him creative head
(Reuters) -OpenAI is buying Jony Ive's startup io Products in a $6.5 billion deal and will bring the chief designer of early iPhones on board as creative head to develop devices tailored for the generative artificial intelligence era. LoveFrom, the design firm founded by Ive after leaving Apple, has been working with OpenAI for two years on generative AI devices - an area where startups have stumbled due to high computing demands, including flops such as Humane's AI Pin. With Ive leading design, OpenAI aims to pair the technology behind its popular ChatGPT chatbot with the product design expertise that made devices such as the iPhone bestsellers. The companies did not disclose the financial details of the deal for io, which Ive co-founded a year ago. The all-stock deal was valued at $6.5 billion based on OpenAI's $300 billion valuation, according to a source familiar with the matter. OpenAI had previously owned a 23% stake in the company, according to the source who requested anonymity to discuss private matters. "The products that we're using to deliver and connect us to unimaginable technology. They're decades old, yeah, and so it's just common sense to at least think surely there's something beyond these legacy products we have," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Ive said in a video posted on OpenAI's blog. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The news weighed on Apple's shares, which were down 2%. A few companies such as Humane AI and Rabbit have tried to build bespoke devices for the AI era. However, Humane AI, founded by a former Apple executives, struggled with its AI Pin device, which faced criticism for battery life, heat issues, limited functionality and high costs. HP acquired Humane AI's assets, including its AI platform Cosmos, intellectual property and technical talent for $116 million, effectively discontinuing the AI Pin product. Rabbit, on the other hand, has sold more than 100,000 of r1 devices, but reviewers have said functionality remains limited when compared with smartphones.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Those Star Trek-Style Humane AI Pins Will Stop Working by End of the Month
If you're among the smallish group of people who own a Humane AI pin, start saying your goodbyes. The wearable device, which CNET writer Scott Stein compared to "an AI-powered Star Trek communicator pinned to your shirt," is on its way out. On Tuesday, Humane announced that it would stop selling the pins, after the company was acquired by HP Inc. And don't think you'll have a lot of time to wind down, either -- this is a pretty accelerated timeline. Read more: Humane AI Hands-On: My Life So Far With a Wearable AI Pin "Your Ai Pin will continue to function normally until 12 pm PST on February 28, 2025," Humane said in the statement. "After this date, it will no longer connect to Humane's servers, and .Center access will be fully retired." The AI Pin features will no longer include calling, messaging, AI queries and responses and cloud access, and on Feb. 28, all remaining consumer data will be deleted, the company said. "We strongly encourage you to sync your Ai Pin over Wi-Fi and download any stored pictures, videos, and notes from .Center before February 28, 2025," the statement warns. "If you do not do this, your data will be lost upon deletion on February 28, 2025 at 12pm PST." A representative for Humane did not immediately respond to a request for comment. CNET's Scott Stein reviewed the device back in April 2024, noting that the $699 pin seemed like science fiction, but was a chore to use. "The ideas inside Humane's vision were interesting, but the execution -- and its total lack of connection with any phone -- made it feel absurd," Stein said on Tuesday. "Also it was hard to control, didn't work well and overheated extremely quickly." Stein enjoyed the language translation feature and said its camera quality was "fine but not great." The device did not respond to voice activation, and instead must be constantly tapped to be put into service. The pin could read things out loud, try to identify cars, plants and locations or describe a room, Stein said in his review. But not without issues. When he asked it to identify a can of Spindrift flavored sparkling water, it told him instead about a 2022 Apple TV Plus movie, possibly mishearing his asking the device to "look" for the movie's title, "Luck."
