Wearable technology has been all the rage these past few years. From glasses to wrist watches, all of these standard accessories that we use to brighten up our appearance have received some sort of advanced upgrade.
Another thing that has been receiving a lot of attention lately is artificial intelligence, or AI, which has been used to, controversially, generate paintings and film scripts. Despite its mixed reception in the public eye, the tech company Humane has taken AI and merged it with the humble pin, creating the uncreatively named AI Pin. Here’s what you need to know about this latest wearable technology.
As the name suggests, it is a simple pin designed to be magnetically attached to your clothing, with a small computer designed to be interacted with from the outside and a battery pack at the opposite end. Its small, rounded square design has a protruding top that houses an ultra-wide camera, an indicator light, a speaker, and a projector, while the rest of the body has a touchpad.
The speaker system, also known as “Personic Spearker,” is a highly-engineered system that can create a bubble of sound where only you can hear it, letting you take calls or listen to music without anyone else eavesdropping. However, you do have the option to raise the volume for other people to hear, or connect your Bluetooth headphones.
The smart wearable also features an on-board microphone that can pick up your voice, enabling you to interact with the AI system. However, many people are sceptical about this function as it is similar to the always-listening system found in other smartphones or virtual assistants. To ease people’s worries, voice recognition is off by default and requires being turned on manually if you want to use it.
This device also does not have any wake commands like Siri, Google, Amazon’s Alexa, or the like. Instead, you must interact with the touchpad, waking the device, then saying out your request. While interacting with the AI assistant, the indicator light known as the “Trust Light” will glow, informing you that one of the features of the device is active and is gathering data. And, in the name of transparency, if this light or the device is tampered with, you are required to send the device to Humane themselves in order to have it fixed or be barred from accessing the pin’s several features.
If the device is ever compromised, it would be a major setback because the main feature is giving orders to its Cosmos OS-powered AI, which can streamline messaging and recognise and contextualise your requests with speech alone. The powerful AI is capable of doing real-time translation, and the “catch me up” voice command browses through your messages and calls and summarises them into key details, saving you the hassle of back-reading hundreds of messages.
However, you have the option to view received messages or check your replies before sending them with their “Laser-Ink Display.” This feature bypasses the need for a screen as it projects all to your hand, which you can navigate with simple gestures. As the name suggests, the display can project messages, music, time, weather, and addresses. Another thing you can access with just a few taps is the 13MP ultrawide camera. With two taps made with two fingers on the touchpad, you can easily snap photos as you go, though there is yet to be any video recording feature at the time of writing. If you combine this feature with the AI system, you can easily gain access to information about a specific object, such as the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables or the price of a specific item.
Humane has made sure that the gathered information is secured and protected. There are no apps that you need to install on your phone, so if you want to access all the information, such as notes, photos, and preferences, you’ll need to visit Humane.center, the AI Pin’s central hub.
The price starts at US$699 (~RM3,300), which includes the AI Pin, charge pad, cable, adapter, a charge case, and an extra battery pack. You would need to spend an additional US$24 (~RM113) to gain access to the cloud storage, AI services, unlimited talk, text, and data, and a dedicated cellphone number for your pin. Though there are plans to have the device ready for early 2024, there is no international release date so far.
For those keeping up with our articles, you’d know that we’ve written extensively about artificial intelligences, such as their use to replace recognisable faces, as a substitute for relationships, and why they are hated outright by artists everywhere. However, it is important to note that there is nothing wrong with AI assisting people in daily activities, which is what the AI Pin is doing; thus, it has received a pass from the majority of people thus far. AI only becomes a problem when people choose artificial intelligence to substitute creative talents who dedicate years of their lives to master their respective crafts.
How do YOU feel about AI? Let us know in the comments.
