The good, the bad, and the Humane AI Pin | The Vergecast

The Verge's Nilay Patel, David Piece, and Alex Cranz discuss David's review of the Humane AI Pin, Taylor Swift's music back on TikTok, a new party speaker, and much more.
Further reading: www.theverge.com/24128273/hum...
00:00 - Intro
02:06 - Humane AI Pin review
46:24 - Taylor Swift back on TikTok
1:00:07 - OpenAI gets itself in trouble
1:14:26 - Lightning Round
Subscribe: goo.gl/G5RXGs
Like The Verge on Facebook: goo.gl/2P1aGc
Follow on Twitter: goo.gl/XTWX61
Follow on Instagram: goo.gl/7ZeLvX
Follow on TikTok: bit.ly/42VeCVU
The Vergecast Podcast: pod.link/430333725
Decoder with Nilay Patel: apple.co/3v29nDc
More about our podcasts: www.theverge.com/podcasts
Read More: www.theverge.com
Community guidelines: bit.ly/2D0hlAv
Wallpapers from The Verge: bit.ly/2xQXYJr
Subscribe to The Vergecast on KZbin, new episodes on Tuesday and Friday: bit.ly/3I6nJtz
If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may receive a commission without exerting any influence on editorial content. For more information about our ethics policy, visit: www.theverge.com/ethics-state...

[@TheVerge]

Hi! We were nominated for a Webby and as nominees, we can win a Webby People’s Voice Award, which is voted online by fans - like yourself! - so we’d love your support: trib.al/KqgdWnz

[@jschlesser]

I just want to say, there is a difference between the audio only and the podcast with video, it’s qualitative but it’s so much better to see y’all. Seeing all three of you and listening to you is vast. Don’t get me wrong, listening to yall is good, but watching yall is vastly better. It’s qualitative, but it’s so much better. I can’t tell you why.

[@GordonChaffin]

Agreed!

[@itschrishuerta]

I started watching the podcast instead of listening since video came back.

[@zaxbit]

100% agree, prefer video podcasts always

[@mwinn22]

Based on the verge review scale and what is described in the review I have no idea how this product got a 4/10 and not a 2/10

[@rowanstrang8072]

So is ‘the good version’ of this just a set of AirPods connected to an iPhone?

[@tayjn]

I paused Beyonc\u00e9’s new album to listen to this

[@kindofanmol]

i almost spat my chai lmfaaooo

[@javiersp15]

new colored e-reader? new sony party speaker? Yeah this is the vergecast for the vergecast aficionado. Bring it!

[@siraaron4462]

I remember before ai hype blew up and we all became aware of biases and hallucinations, the general consensus was that synthetic data would somehow be more accurate than real data

[@bloodops3893]

I can't wait for the Rabbit R1 review 👀

[@jjjurgensen454]

Your going to be very disappointed 🤦🏿‍♂️ besides it being delayed it’s not shipping with almost any LAM functionality , so prepare yourself :/

[@zaxbit]

Do all these LLM products need like… a year lead time for a review?

[@jjjurgensen454]

@@zaxbit unfortunately in these instances they do and I understand there rush because they need to ship before Samsung or Apple make them obsolete , because both companies could include the technology in there watch and pretty much kill both of these products , so I understand them being rushed to beat the market but saying you can do one thing taking someone’s money and then being like oh yah most of the stuff we said it was gunna do or the crucial parts yah that’s coming way later , should be considered a bait and switch in my opinion

[@zaxbit]

@@jjjurgensen454 I think the sheer nature of AI being a “do everything box” is what will make these products hard to launch every time. Most products at least try to do a nice vertical slice and be honest with it for v1.

[@gr81matt]

With 8 pins you could spread them around your body and be warm all the time.

[@thanos879]

For $5,600 and $192 a month before taxes 😂

[@balloonredd373]

nothing felt more sad than seeing Bethany from Humane going on a defesne titrade under every tweet bashing the AI pin. really hilarious too

[@AbedRahman]

Several years ago (possibly over a decade): Microsoft demoed a product that would hang around your neck and do exactly this. It was absolutely awesome, way ahead of its time, never released, and probably never worked, but was AWESOME! I can never remember what it was called but think about it every time I hear about the Humane pin.

[@elvisflees]

So excited for the kobo clara color.

[@wwoodard8]

David, I completely understand the love hate relationship with this thing. I still have a Newton. It sits on my desk as a beloved but fatality flawed relic of the past. It didn’t work well, but I loved it!

[@thefrener794]

I still use my Blackberry Playbook but more and more I am just charging it just to keep the battery from going dead permanently. But I would not go to battle with anyone who says it is a useless device.

[@themizarkshow]

I've been using the BOOX color e-readers this past year and it rules so much. Excited to see it rolling out elsewhere finally.

[@fooolishgamess]

Having video of your episodes it’s a completely different experience than just audio. Even though I enjoy The Verge’s content, I can’t ever listen to more than 30-40 min of the podcast episodes because ideas seem to be all over the place, and changing multiple subjects during the episodes just loses me. But with video I stay longer and are more interested in watching you interact with one another than just listening.

[@mr_grillet]

Serious question - why not just clip your Apple Watch to your chest and use Siri? ...I have used Siri to create notes, calendar events, set alarms, send messages.... most of the things he does in the review. I really want to see more devices out there but, I just don't get the Pin. Most of the examples of things to do in the review are things, I do with a few taps on my phone. Smart phones are actually really good at solving a huge range of issues / challenges. Also, I don't want others to hear what I am adding to my shopping list... 🤷🏽‍♂

[@AndreVandal]

On copyrights, I found a book with a photo of mine on the cover, when contacted the publisher was sure that if a photo was found on the net it was free... seriously, WTH!

[@18000rpm]

Rather than a laser projector, it should just use a smart watch as display and input. That would be way easier AND cheaper. The device should also work with your phone rather than require a cell data plan.

[@MattSwain1]

It’s true but would also depend on people having a compatible watch or ditching their existing watch for a Humane watch. I’m not likely to ditch my Garmin to get something compatible with the Pin. And I guess that’s why they went this way… it looks flash and doesn’t depend on anyone else’s ecosystem

[@theblah12]

Why not just make it an app then?

[@1horatius]

I do believe does have something to blame regarding timing of answering besides its very expensive for the service.

[@U2haveaniceday20]

Awesome Podcast guys but Alex this is just for you please talk about it and show all please.Thanks so much enjoyed. 💯✌️

[@jaredkrause2747]

“She literally just laughed” 🥴

[@kyleebrock]

I taped my phone to my chest. It works!

[@expectationlost]

3 is generous, it doesnt consistently work = 0.

[@DeepakVadgama]

I am super surprised smartwatches were not used for comparison. All the flaws talked about because of its small size (battery, heat, interactivity, antennas) all of them should apply to smartwatches as well due yet today's smartwatches do all of it way better than Humane AI Pin.

[@kitsand]

"It's not as if this thing never works." -- Alexx A broken clock is right twice a day. I wouldn't recommend buying a broken clock.

[@Untitled-0001]

Besides the features that require a camera, what can the AI pin actually do that the Apple Watch can't

[@kuakilyissombroguwi]

It’s just not acceptable to ship a product like this, which barely works. Honestly, it’s actually more expensive to do this, because it hurts the brand, and this is a completely new brand. People are now not going to trust any future iteration, even if it blows V1 out of the water.

[@mattydsmith]

The Ai pin might be weird, but I've got more questions about David's mug tree behind his sofa 🧐

[@nocturnus009]

FINALLY, calling a Spade a Spade 0:58:00

[@doyouknowmeforsure]

21:03 no David, I disagree with you. This in fact should be the episode that you sent to Webby.

[@thefrener794]

This thing is not as good as my old echo dot except that it goes around with me. My phone goes with me.

[@dubzxn2460]

lmao she said we going back words in content consumption

[@arctic28130]

But the real question is, beef or bust? We need the hypecheck

[@toshaks]

I want to know about Kobo ereader!

[@RafK]

I'm with Alex, colour ereaders 🎉

[@zedrake]

I loved the review but 1 problem with professional reviewing is you don't feel the money leave your pocket. I understand the product getting an extra point for trying something big but that 1 point should exist only in the context of this podcast, not the actual review itself. Fact of the matter is if a regular person gets the AI Pin within 1 year it will cost the the same as your $1000 smartphone and it can do maybe 5% of what it can do. The review should reflect what it actually does as a consumer piece of tech. Not a tech monologue on what tech can be.

[@user-on8us2oi8s]

7/10 Nilay Patel

[@tipoomaster]

Kos, or some say Kosm

[@Andre-cj3ec]

My wife will confirm I'm into useless gadgets. Even I can't figure out the point of an AI pin. I have a smart watch and earbuds with smart assistant. Why would one need a pin instead of just making the smart assistant better? If the solution is better software, why do I need a separate piece of hardware?

[@user-on8us2oi8s]

Magic until it isn’t.

[@razealghoul]

God dam Americans will find a way to use any measuring system except the metric system. What is 2 Arthurs nilay?!?!

[@GoblinLight]

Oh. My. God. 4/10. Your justifications for the score makes *no* sense, i especially like the ”it’s a startup” one. Is this a product, or a company review?

[@danb6546]

Bad reviews from people who make money being on your screen

[@mon699]

Why would you spend $700 to be told lies 😂😂

[@delxinogaming6046]

They literally invented v1 of the Star Trek communicator, and people are like ‘meh’

[@thomasjoseph86]

First ☝️

[@Facts4Logic]

No00000

[@craiggmelville]

The pin is $988 🤬

[@rproaudio1]

You all have a cognitive distortion related to synthetic data. As the quality of output increases, functionally its the effect of more human level quality content being generated, if we accept that these tools can out perform certain cognitive tasks. This is about mapping a possibility space, not elusive magical powers only afforded to humans.

[@LaurentCardinal]

I understood about 0% of what you just said

[@ch7isr]

It’s a sad shadow of the show it used to be. Without Josh to keep nilay in line just becomes a constant downer even with piece trying his hardest.

[@TheEtbetween]

Unfortunately, a lot of these features that this guy is complaining about if you go on that website, you see that these are coming soon features they’re not finish features yet, so it’s a little bit unfair that these guys are not telling the whole story

[@betaprotocol]

If the product isn’t done Humane shouldn’t be selling it yet. Promising to improve a product in future software updates is never a guarantee in this industry, especially for an unproven startup like Humane.

[@mcraig]

You can't review a promise. You can review what it's currently capable of.

[@theblah12]

@@betaprotocol*Especially* a startup like Humane. We might complain about Google killing off their products if they don’t reach some kind of critical mass in the first 6 months but with a hardware product from a startup there’s a very good chance that the entire company will fold and you’re left with an expensive brick if the product flops and the money runs out (which is a highly likely scenario in this case, especially with the price and the reviews it’s getting).

[@CanadianCannabisSociety]

This device gets an insane amount of coverage for how useless it is. They must have insanely deep pockets as a company, sad.

[@Mikey-vd6op]

They told investors it has AI and secured $230M also it had big promises so it’s going to be reviewed. If it lived up to any of its expectations it’d be cool. It’s sad that we all knew it wouldn’t and we were all right.

[@Shoutinthewind]

You think 230milion will be enough for the company to survive until the next iteration? Because I don’t believe for a second that they will get enough sales to recoup the cost of production. Assuming they allow you to return the device then I’m guessing 75% of their sales will be returned.

[@Mikey-vd6op]

@@Shoutinthewind I think it's mostly software thats the biggest issue and that can't be fixed. AI isn't trust worthy in the way they want to use it. So even if they fix some of the obvious things the more people run in to AI halucinations the less they'll use it for AI. If it was $200 they novelty might keep them going for a bit longer.