When Brilliance in Hardware Isn’t Enough
October 12, 2025
Humane’s Ai Pin looked perfect on paper. Two former Apple leaders raised $230 million from Microsoft, OpenAI, and Sam Altman to build a wearable projector you pin to your shirt. Voice input, laser display, on-device AI. The pitch felt like the future sewn onto your lapel.
The Review That Broke The Spell
Then MKBHD pushed his video live and called it “the worst product I’ve ever reviewed.” That headline echoed across X and YouTube in minutes. The thumbnail said it all: Marques staring at the square device, palms up, asking what problem it even solved.
He still gave the team credit. Building a wearable with a camera, projector, microphones, and a battery small enough to clip onto fabric is hard. Fitting that hardware into a clip-on device takes care.
Engineering effort is not the metric users use. When MKBHD tried to share a photo, he had to project the image onto his palm, hold steady, and trace a gesture to pick a recipient. The friend on the other end received a plain link, which opened in a special web viewer instead of their chat app. Directions lagged. Translations stumbled. Calls felt awkward. Every task took longer than the phone already in his pocket.
Meanwhile engineer @linaeons reminded everyone how much work it takes to fit a laser projector, multiple sensors, magnets, and a full compute stack into something near watch-sized.
He is right about that part. The effort is real. Users, however, do not buy effort. They buy relief.
The Engineer’s Blind Spot
This is the trap many of us fall into. We get excited about the novelty, usually because we know how much work sits behind it. Yet the market only rewards tools that make a job easier. Ai Pin’s supposed job is “capture and share a moment quickly.” Step through that job with the device and every step adds friction. That is why people bounced off it.
New hardware is fun to admire the way concept cars are fun to stare at. The real scoreboard is dull: did it make life easier today? If not, people shrug and go back to the tool that does.