\n<\/p>\n
Hardware is difficult, to paraphrase a famous adage. First-generation products from new startups are notoriously so, regardless of how much money and excitement you\u2019ve managed to drum up. Given all that, it\u2019s likely few are too surprised that Humane\u2019s upcoming Ai Pin<\/a> has been pushed back a bit, from March to \u201cmid-April,\u201d per a new video<\/a> from the Bay Area startup\u2019s Head of Media, Sam Sheffer.<\/p>\n In the Sorkin-style walk and talk, he explains that the first units are set to, \u201cstart leaving the factory at the end of March.\u201d If Humane keeps to that time frame, \u201cpriority access\u201d customers will begin to receive the unit at some point in mid-April. The remaining preorders, meanwhile, should arrive \u201cshortly after.\u201d<\/p>\n Humane captured a good deal of tech buzz well before its first product was announced, courtesy of its founders\u2019 time at Apple and some appropriately enigmatic prelaunch videos. The Ai Pin was finally unveiled at an event in San Francisco back in early November<\/a>, where we were able to spend a little controlled hands-on time with the wearable.<\/p>\n The device is the first prominent example of what\u2019s likely to be a growing trend in the consumer hardware world, as more startups look to harness the white-hot world of generative AI for new form factors. Humane is positioning its product as the next step for a space that\u2019s been stuck on the smartphone form factor for more than a decade.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Humane<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Of course, this will almost certainly also be the year of the \u201cAI smartphone\u201d \u2014 that is to say handsets leveraging platforms\u2019 GPT models from companies like OpenAI, Google and Microsoft to bring new methods for interacting with consumer devices. Meanwhile, upstart rabbit<\/a>\u00a0generated buzz last month at CES for its own unique take on the generative AI-first consumer device.<\/p>\n For its part, Humane has a lot riding on this launch. The company has thus far raised around $230 million, including last year\u2019s $100 million Series C. There\u2019s a lot to be said for delaying a product until it\u2019s consumer ready. While early adopters are \u2014 to an extent \u2014 familiar with first-gen bugs, there\u2019s always a limit to such patience. At the very least, a product like this will need to do most of what it\u2019s supposed to do most of the time.<\/p>\n