Is This 'AI Pin' About to Replace Your Smartphone?
Artificial intelligence, more commonly known as AI has become a hot topic, and soon you'll be able to have your own AI Pin you can wear on your clothes.
Android Headlines reports that it will be like taking the ChatGPT program and clipping it to your shirt.
Manufactured by San Francisco-based tech startup Humane, the AI Pin will have a microphone, and a camera to scan an object like some food or something else, and then it will answer your questions about it. You simply operate it by taps, hand gestures, and voice commands. The pin can also take photos, video, send texts, uses a laser to project a visual image onto the wearer's palm, and comes with a virtual assistant, according to Wired Magazine.
The outlet noted it will always be ready to search the web and communicate without the use of a smartphone. Some have even likened it to the communicators worn by the crew on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The pin will have access to AI services in various computers to find information, and it's expected to be released this spring.
Humane CEO Bethany Bongiorno told Wired the Pin is the world's first contextual computer.
"AI now has become something that everyone is curious about and really wants to know how it's going to change their life," she said. "We're offering the first opportunity to bring it with you everywhere. It's really touching people from every background, every age group, globally, in terms of what we're feeling and seeing in feedback."
The pin will also have a hefty price tag -- $699, plus a $24 monthly subscription fee.
Watch a video demonstrating the AI Pin below:
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The AI Pin is just one of several wearable devices that will be available in the near future all built around ChatGPT-like AI services used by more than 100 million people each week, Wired reported.
Last September, Meta announced its new AI Ray-Ban smart glasses. The glasses can record audio and video. You can also ask the AI questions, send photos, and live stream to Facebook or Instagram.
Questions About Privacy, Security, and Accessibility
There have been some concerns and skepticism raised about the Pin from within the tech industry. The website Eightify noted these questions are about privacy, security, the lack of self-expression, and its hefty price tag making it inaccessible to many people.
There have also been questions raised about the Pin's accessibility. Writing for Forbes, contributor Steven Aquino asked if the AI Pin will be accessible to the disabled community.
Aquino called out the media for not asking the right questions that would concern disabled people.
Aquino's questions include, "What happens if you have a speech delay like a stutter and the assistant can't understand you? What happens if you can't push the button or clip the Pin to your clothing? What if you can't open your palms for the projector UI? Does said UI support text size or contrast or screen reader options?"
"Should disabled people assume the AI Pin is only for fully-abled people?" he wrote.
"Disabled people deserve to have their voices heard just like any other underrepresented group, especially considering we make up the largest marginalized group on the planet. So many institutions fancy themselves staunch DEI advocates when, in reality, their actions staunchly leave out disabled people. The whole message rings hollow and feels disingenuous," Aquino noted.
"Whether the AI Pin sinks or swims remains to be seen. One thing is for sure right now: Accessibility will have a hand in that either way," he concluded.
