The Inhumane Pivot

SIWOOO

A dumbphone messiah to generative AI hype casualty

The road to hell is paved with good intentions

For Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, that road was lit by the blind promise of AI. Their much-hyped AI Pin hit the market last week, the reviews were disastrous, and it got clear pretty fast that Humane had lost its way. What happens if you succumb to the siren song of the AI hype train?

Chaudhri and Bongiorno's story began nobly enough back in 2018. Both are ex-Applers with a wealth of experience in interaction design, and they dreamed of a technology that would help people genuinely connect, rather than the compulsive, slot-machine engagement smartphones had come to represent.

We were welcoming the era of digital minimalism. From the Light Phone with its e-ink display to custom Android mods that ruthlessly blocked social media, Humane saw an opportunity to make its mark.

"A thoughtfully designed, distraction-free device that would help people unplug and live in the moment on weekends and vacations."

The name said it all. Humane. Technology with a soul, respecting our fundamental humanity.

But then something changed, around 2022-2023. Humane's resolve wavered as the LLM-powered chatbot craze began sweeping the tech world last year.

Humane seemed so tempted to jump on the generative AI bandwagon and proclaim it a panacea for all the ills of modern gadgetry. Suddenly, the AI Pin morphed from a noble stab at digital asceticism into an awkwardly positioned hybrid.

In this pivot, Humane forgot the #1 rule of hardware. New form factors demand thoughtful new interface paradigms. From the invention of the GUI to capacitive multi-touch, the hardware breakthroughs that mattered most in computing history always came with detailed UX research, tailored to the device's unique constraints and affordances.

People literally wow-ed when they first saw inertial scroll.

Rewind a bit. A big part of the iPhone's success was its user experience, which introduced clever features like rubberbanding and inertial effects. These inspired creative solutions for organizing information on the compact screen, such as tabs and master-detail views. Without these ergonomic and user-friendly interfaces, the iPhone would not have achieved such widespread adoption. Humane's AI Pin, though, seems to skip exploring these essential UX questions at all.

Some critics may argue the AI Pin's limited screen poses challenges for displaying data. But similar concerns were raised when the iPhone debuted, and Apple's designers overcame those obstacles through clever designs.

Some UI Experiments by Zane Liu and Michael Mofina. I still think Liu and Mofina's designs showed more consideration than Humane's current implementations.

In the early development days, some UI UX designers even demonstrated how the Humane Pin could do digital minimalism without harming usability. These initial interaction models were promising, featuring explorations into 3D spatial interfaces. Some were reminiscent of creative experiments like Apple's 3D Touch (which did not make much sense on an iPhone's 2D screen, leading Apple to abandon the idea).

Those thoughtful design approaches were quickly abandoned in a rush to position the device as an all-purpose AI assistant. Instead of carefully mapping a focused set of use cases to the device's minimalist form factor, Humane decided to gloss over the hard work of UX with a simplistic "AI will handle everything" attitude. All UX experiments were launched as the bare minimum implementation.

This strategic misstep proved disastrous. Large language models are impressive with natural language, but they have clear limitations that make such a careless approach unwise. They can generate false information, make up imaginary details, and mislead users while sounding completely confident.

Sticking a half-baked AI into an unfinished dumbphone with a novel form factor doesn't automatically create a groundbreaking product. Instead, you get a frustrating user experience, an unreliable virtual assistant trapped in hardware that is too minimal to handle its shortcomings gracefully.

Humane's AI Pin fell prey to a classic strategic mistake. It lost focus and identity by chasing the wrong trend at the cost of their core vision. What started as a bold effort to create a clever anti-smartphone became a directionless flop trying to cash in on the generative AI craze.

As the fallout from this high-profile failure settles, it's hard not to imagine what could have been. In a different scenario, one could easily picture the AI Pin launching to great acclaim as a well-crafted, top-notch weekend digital detox device, with its philosophy and execution perfectly aligned. Instead, it will be a cautionary tale for hardware startups, and a harsh lesson that you can't shortcut your way to a coherent product vision with hype and hope.

But Humane's journey may not be over yet. This public stumble will be the much-needed wake-up call for the company to rediscover its original vision before it's too late. Only time will tell whether that means cutting ill-fitting AI features, dropping the confusing subscription model, or fully committing to smooth pop-in-your-own-SIM support, like Rabbit's R1.

With major flagship hardware launches, you only get one shot to make a solid first impression on the market and the tech community. We can only hope Humane makes the most of its hard-fought second chance for the company's sake and for all those still hoping for a better, more humane digital future.

What Humane has to do is build novel, user-centric interfaces that make good use of the AI Pin's screen space. Putting ergonomics and intuitive interactions first can set Humane apart from competitors and give users a compelling experience, just as the iPhone did. Failing to do so may result in a product that struggles to gain traction among consumers accustomed to the high standards set by successful smartphones.

The path ahead is challenging, but I really, really hope they succeed so that the devices serve us, not vice versa. The goal of devices supporting human well-being rather than hijacking our attention is still worth pursuing.