HP is shopping for know-how from Humane, a startup that developed a Star Trek-like good pin that flopped amid destructive critiques and a $699 price ticket.

HP announced it’s going to spend $116 million to accumulate “key AI capabilities from Humane,” in addition to take in the startup’s workers and over 300 patents and patent functions. 

Bloomberg additionally reports that Humane’s AI pin enterprise can be wound down. However the startup’s know-how will stay on by means of upcoming AI-infused merchandise from HP. 

“This funding will quickly speed up our potential to develop a brand new technology of units that seamlessly orchestrate AI requests each regionally and within the cloud,” HP President of Know-how and Innovation Tuan Tran stated within the announcement. 

Particularly, HP plans to harness “CosmOS,” the working system that Humane constructed to assist customers faucet into completely different AI agents on their units. “Humane’s AI platform Cosmos, backed by an unimaginable group of engineers, will assist us create an clever ecosystem throughout all HP units from AI PCs to good printers and related convention rooms,” Tran added. 

Humane didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. However within the announcement, Humane’s co-founders, Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri, stated they’re “excited” to hitch HP. As a part of the deal, HP is establishing a brand new AI innovation lab, dubbed HP IQ, that’ll be staffed by former Humane engineers and workers.

Humane’s demise is a cautionary story for brand new AI merchandise; the San Francisco startup created loads of hype in 2023 whereas debuting a sensible pin system that was meant to exchange smartphones. The ensuing product was designed to primarily interface solely by means of an AI voice assistant. However critiques blasted the good pin for its sluggish processing speeds and shoddy implementation. It additionally didn’t assist that the product may pose a fire hazard.

By Could 2024, the corporate was already trying to promote, initially for $1 billion. Humane’s web site additionally discontinued gross sales for the good pin.

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About Michael Kan

Senior Reporter

I have been working as a journalist for over 15 years—I obtained my begin as a faculties and cities reporter in Kansas Metropolis and joined PCMag in 2017.

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