Despite brutal launch reviews and reports that the startup is looking to be acquired, Humane is cooking. Now that it’s rolled out its big Cosmos 1.1.4 software update to all Ai Pin users — improvements include faster AI responses and reduced thermals — Humane seems to be working hard to deliver on at least some of the features it promised for Cosmos 1.2 slated for this summer.
In a video posted to X, Humane product engineer Elizabeth Dorman shared the below video showing off Google Calendar integration.
“Hey, can you tell me what’s on my calendar for later today?” Dorman asks while pressing down the Ai Pin’s touchpad. Dorman says that the Ai Pin will then look through the Google Calendar that you have linked to Humane’s .Center web portal and then reply with events.
In the video, the Ai Pin tells Dorman that they’re currently in a meeting, the specific upcoming event on the calendar, as well as what’s on it the next week. Dorman also uses natural language to ask the Ai Pin when there’s a “30-minute slot open to get coffee with Josh.”
Even more impressive, Dorman tells the Ai Pin to dial into the Google Meet event. The AI enters the Meet passcode without Dorman needing to manually enter it. Keying in passwords made of letters and numbers is an annoyance we can all relate to; let AI do it on our behalf.
Two things I observed: First, the Laser Ink Display projector is never shown. Presumably, like the other Ai Pin features, you can hold your hand out while the Ai Pin is speaking and see the text on your hand. Or, hopefully, a projection of your calendar. A calendar is usually most useful when you can see what it’s filled with rather than wait for it all to happen. (Update: Dorman says there are no projected visuals yet, “but we are working on some custom UI here.”)
The other thing is that there are jump cuts in the video. Dorman is seen talking over the time it takes for the Ai Pin to retrieve calendar information. While software update 1.1.4 has sped up AI replies, it appears there may be longer-than-expected wait times while the AI connects to Google Calendar.
Humane Has A Lot to Deliver This Summer
Dorman says Google Calendar integration is coming in a “future release” in the video and in their X post, says it’s “so, so soon.”
Oskar Zhang, a software engineer at Humane, recently shared a video demonstration of timers and alarms working on the Ai Pin. Zhang uses the Ai Pin to set a two-minute timer and “set a timer for hard-boiled eggs” to which the AI sets a timer for 12 minutes. Zhang then changes the request for the eggs to be soft-boiled eggs, and the AI automatically changes the timer to six minutes.
Zhang also shows how multiple timers appear on the palm of your hand when you “laser in.” According to Zhang, when the Ai Pin is asked to set an alarm for 20 minutes before their first meeting the next day, the AI knows which meeting because it has all of his calendar/meeting information.
Again, Zhang doesn’t share specifically when the timers and alarms features will be added, only that they’re coming “in our next release.”
So that’s three features to look forward to if you’re an Ai Pin user and four, if you didn’t catch the gesture unlock that Humane’s Sai Kampbampati shared earlier this month:
But let me reshare this “OTA roadmap” Humane posted back in April for Cosmos 1.2 (scheduled for release this summer) and what’s “in development.”
For this summer, Cosmos 1.2 is supposed to bring: nutrition (beta), agents, more voice settings, photo sharing via SMS, timers/clock, world clock, time-based reminders, import/support playlists, Catch Me Up on other devices, dynamic UI, push support, gesture unlock, Google Places, Calendar recall, general directions, and translation in your own voice. That’s a lot of features, and you better believe every Ai Pin supporter is going to be looking to check off each and every one.
Summer just started four days ago (as of this writing) and ends on September 22, so Humane’s got to start throwing more gas on the fire. With everything on the line, the startup really can’t afford another misstep, especially after it recently told customers to stop using the egg-shaped Charge Case because a battery-related issue could “pose a fire safety risk” and it lost Ken Kocienda, its former head of product engineering.
As somebody on the outside, it’s hard to know what the temperature is like inside Humane. Are these feature teases just business as usual or is it an attempt at reshaping the company’s battered image to position it as more attractive for a sale? And will these features even matter? According to The New York Times, Humane only “received around 10,000 orders for the Ai Pin, a small fraction of the 100,000 that it hoped to sell this.” How many people (Ai Pin customers or not) are waiting for Google Calendar, timers, and alarms when Apple, Google, and Samsung are integrating these features directly into phones?
