AI based products - Genesis or not

I had a bit of time this week, having semi completed a quite intensive project where we did something we should have taken 4 - 5 months to work on. Anyways water under the bridge, however what was super exciting was i finally had time to review and research what the buzz around the Humane Ai Pin was and what it did.

I frankly feel there have been quite a few physical products that are Ai based launched before that were commercially successful but never really became well known. I am not sure why that happened, but one that really comes to mind is the Arsenal Ai assistant for taking better pictures. This was a crowdfunding campaign in Aug of 2020, but without the promise or premise of Chat GPT and the insane possibilities that it has generated, this product sold more than 250K units and that's a huge achievement by any standard. You can learn more about this product here

One of the biggest reasons for this product not being a broad way success (which again i still maintain it is commercially but not as a brand), is the shy, subtle and frankly unassuming appearance of the Arsenal, The Intelligent Camera Assistant compared to the Humane Ai pin. The form is quite bland and If you remove the branding, which again looks like a font that was picked out of nowhere with any association to the word, it looks exactly similar to the zen mp3 player. It's an uninspiring, rounded manufacturing focused shape with that soft touch finish which will peel with outdoors use very soon. Hate soft touch.

The cyan blue light which indicates high technology and the way that ugly USB Connector connects to the device adds to its story of just rushing to manufacture this without any consideration to how this could have been such a timeless device and extend the possibilities of its functionality to other applications and scenarios. The packaging experience also indicated that there is nothing special about this product and that its just another unboxing. It felt all too rushed just for the crowdfunding campaign and something that was left to the last min as an afterthought. All the accessories as well were sourced generic products. These matter. Especially for a revolutionary product.

I mean this was a company that could have owned an industry with a strong portfolio of products in the pipeline, maybe they are working on it, maybe they are not. I hope they do see the vision that Ai based products are going to bring from a brand and impact perspective with the advent of open Ai and chat gpt now.

The cornerstone of my design philosophy is that, when you launch disruptive products with technology that can frankly alter lives, it should not and i repeat, it's not an option but to create a fresh association, something that is unique. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication but in this case disruption needs a different level. .

Coming back to the Ai Pin, the curves and the obsession around the rounded and soft forms and the radii that apple uses are kinda reminiscent in this product too, subtly hinting at the ex apple founder status. I do like that. That's subtle association and its frankly genius. I would totally do that if i was a founder and worked at apple before.

The form even though simple is most certainly not unassuming and is definitely not associative of a past product or experience. Case in point of doing that for revolutionary new products. Building an identity takes a hell lot more effort than just a bunch of features on a landing page or a logo/website. People always sell a ton of useless products and services but hardly end up building a brand.

A long term vision for building a brand is better than short term sales losses in my opinion

The material and finish choices currently i think we can leave it up to launch jitters and conformity choices more than sticking to the identity of what the brand/product is. If you look at the metal bezel and the glossy white/black finish with the antenna breaks, the orange color break ( dynamic island, anyone??) it's all very associative of the top performing product in the tech space right now and its not a bad one. It just feels a bit too conformed is all and i understand that.

I frankly consider the interface on the hand mildly annoying and i envision that on a desk surface or on a fixed position rather than having to create new muscle memory based interactions. I feel the tech is pretty darn cool and new but the interactions still feels a bit " Back to the Future, part 5" maybe. I am sure it will get better soon. The pinches and gestures remind me of mudra's, which are pretty cool if they can expand on this and link it to some intentional interactions and gestures that also help your body heal.

I would love to have a whole health stat on how much it has worked wonders when the interactions are for regular activities like picking up a call, searching for information etc and at the end of the day, the pin tells me that i have healed this %. Wouldn't that be awesome. Like i said i think they have just scratched the surface right now.

The projection of data on your hand is a bit old school for me, especially those cheesy factory made novelty keyboards that never worked is what it reminds me of. I feel the I/O bit needs a device rather than the hand. I mean that's not entirely the humane aspect of this device .There is plenty more which is what should be the focus which could mean there is a wider adoption of this. I can hardly see this working while driving a car, or while feeding a baby, or taking a call at the airport with your hands full. I know its still cumbersome with a phone but we are now used to it.

Even the press to hold should eventually move into an always listening mode and i think it will. There are plenty of sensors that can understand when it should go on that mode rather than a press of a button. I am sure there are good reasons behind it and that's why i am calling this a first impression write up.

Lately i have been using the image recognition on some apps for food and calorie intake and i think that's a fantastic use case for this product. The amount of good it can do mentally to a persons mood, their diet, their circadian rhythm, breathing patterns, workouts, routines, oh my god and i can go on. It can even extend into work and this is something that i think they haven't even scratched the surface yet. I am sure there are plenty of entrepreneurs pitching VC's on a similar scenario of this same tech but with a with a device like the pin paired with a set of 4K goggles. Renji Bijoy your thoughts on this ??

The translator bit again is something i am super excited about and it offers so many use cases to design products that would be worth existing rather than the plastic ocean we are creating just for price tiers. We have been guilty of designing such stuff too and it sucks.

My favorite craziest application of such tech would be to detect insects and mosquitoes before they can bite you and warn or even better zap those little rascals to hell where they should belong. Most bites for people who are allergic to bees and other insects are based on intent and we can totally use Ai to figure this out.

Last but not the least, i wrote this in the most simplest way i write usually, whats in my head and not with a lot of contemplation. The focus is to really differentiate what devices and products similar to the Ai Pin would do and could do both from an existential purpose to a brand purpose. I love that we are getting into this era of Ai powered devices and products and its exactly what i love doing. Figuring out the intricacies of how to stitch physical objects and digital interactions that make it " Human by Design" is what i love doing. FYI I just signed up for updates on the humane website too. You should as well.

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