Geoff Weiss for Business Insider:
Marques Brownlee, the influential YouTube tech reviewer whose channel moniker is MKBHD, shared a scathing review of Humane’s new AI Pin on Monday titled “The Worst Product I’ve Ever Reviewed… For Now.”
The Humane AI Pin — which Brownlee is hardly the first to criticize — is a tiny wearable computer that straps onto your shirt. It’s priced at $700 and has a $25 monthly subscription fee.
In his review, Brownlee applauded the build and craftsmanship of the device. He said he loved the concept of an AI assistant and respected the Humane team for attempting to create something new.
In practice, though, he said the device was slow and its battery life inconsistent. Brownlee also dinged it for its poor photo and video quality and for sometimes returning incorrect answers to his questions. […]
In another viral X post, however, Daniel Vassallo, a tech founder, called Brownlee’s review “distasteful” and “almost unethical” given his huge following. “With great reach comes great responsibility,” Vassallo wrote. “Potentially killing someone else’s nascent project reeks of carelessness.”
I found nothing wrong with Brownlee’s review. The Humane AI Pin is an interesting idea and appears to be nicely made, but just doesn’t work well. Even if it’s iterated in future versions, the initial price, monthly service cost, and complete disconnect from your smartphone is just unappealing. If it’s simply a bad product, that needs to be said before people get interested in it through marketing and then feel cheated. It also can give Humane a chance to tweak some things in software, potentially making it better.
Vassallo’s attitude seems to be the problem with so much of tech these days—let’s entertain bullshit gadgetry and services for hustle-culture and “making the world a better place” even though outside of a demo, there’s no real world usage. Claiming your product is “the next iPhone” or the “Uber of ___” multiple times does not make it true.