The Humane startup, founded by ex-Apple employees Imran Chaudhry and Bethany Bongiorno, demonstrated its new device — a wearable gadget-assistant with artificial intelligence functions and a projection screen.
The Humane device runs Android and is likely powered by a Qualcomm (Snapdragon) chip. During the presentation, Chaudhry carried the gadget in his breast pocket — to wake the device up, he sometimes tapped it or gave voice commands. Axios noted that the device also supports gesture commands.
“Catch me up,” a summary of crucial information you may have missed while you were busy, on @humane’s device. pic.twitter.com/AAIfh2Chfm
— Michael Mofina (@MichaelMofina) April 21, 2023
“This is a new breed of wearables and platforms that are completely built from the ground up for AI. And it is completely autonomous. You don’t need a smartphone or other device to connect,” says Chaudhry.
The device easily provided information about “emails, calendar messages, and messages” that a user might have missed during the day—presumably connected to cloud services where it pulls that information. In addition to voice responses, the AI assistant can project images onto any surface (Chowdry demonstrated this feature on his palm).
First demo of the @Humane upcoming AI-powered wearable device. A phone call.
Thanks @ZarifAli9 for sharing! pic.twitter.com/7qyDScPkOh
— Ben Geskin (@BenGeskin) April 21, 2023
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During the presentation, Humane’s president took a call from his wife and colleague Bethany, and buttons appeared on his palm — but in the video, it appears that Chaudhry didn’t press anything, just said hello and started talking on the speakerphone.
In addition to the projection screen, the device is equipped with a camera that can identify objects around it – for example, it quickly realized that Chaudhry was holding a chocolate bar in his hands and gave some advice, taking into account the diet of its owner.
@humane’s device helping you decide what you can and cannot eat based on knowing your preferences and dietary restrictions. pic.twitter.com/PFwEAsNxDI
— Michael Mofina (@MichaelMofina) April 21, 2023
Another interesting function is translation. The device listens to the offer in English, and after a while reads its French version.
The @Humane wearable doing English->French AI translation in your own voice… wow. (SOUND ON)
Video credit @ZarifAli9
Check out the exclusive on the Humane wearable’s features: pic.twitter.com/cmAWEU8DFS
— Ray Wong (@raywongy) April 21, 2023
The device’s release date and price have not been announced, but you can sign up for a waiting list.
- Humane was founded by Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhry. The latter worked at Apple for more than two decades (1995-2016) in the design team, while his colleague and wife Bethany was responsible for the development of software for iOS and Mac (2008-2016). Their joint startup’s stated goal was to create technology that feels “familiar, natural and human,” with Humane railing against headsets and smart glasses for being “too isolating.”
- The startup has already raised $230 million from investors including Kindred Ventures, SK Networks, LG Technology Ventures, Microsoft, Volvo Cars Tech Fund, Tiger Global, Qualcomm Ventures, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff.
Source: The Verge, 9to5google, Axios
