HP is ready to get the portions of Humane, the innovative startup which is behind the AI-driven wearable device known as Ai Pin. The deal is expected to be valued at $116 million.
This deal will see HP taking the majority of Humane’s employees, its intellectual property, and its software platform, according to announcements made by the AI company recently.
However, Humane’s Ai Pin device business, being its main and only hardware offering, will not be included in the acquisition, and this will be shuttered. Humane’s founders and Apple graduates Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno and their entire team will move to HP.
There their work will include the integration of AI into HP’s computers, printers, and other connected devices. HP is on the lookout to expand its AI business opportunity. Last year, the company put out AI-ready machines with some tailored chips.
Tuan Tran, President of Technology and Innovation at HP, said, “With this investment, we’re significantly increasing our ability to realize a new generation of devices that naturally handle AI requests either on-site or in the cloud.”
He added, “This allows us to build an intelligent ecosystem across HP devices from the standpoint of AI-powered PCs to smart printers and connected meeting rooms, with all this made possible by Humane’s AI platform, Cosmos, and an extraordinary team of engineers. This will provide our customers with unprecedented functionalities and realize what AI can really do.”
Humane presented the Ai Pin as an alternative to smartphones towards the latter part of 2023. A screen-free alternative to smartphones, it allows users to interact with AI through voice commands, gestures, and projections. The device was looking to capitalize on the AI boom by being there early in the AI hardware market. The startup proceeded to raise $230 million from high-profile names including Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, and Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce.
