Your hand is a screen: Could this tiny device end the smartphone era?

By ANDREJ SOKOLOW – Nov 19, 2023

A version of this article was first published on TheStar

SAN FRANCISCO: Could AI make your smartphones obsolete?

After a slow build-up of hype in recent months, a startup run by two former Apple employees has launched their vision of a product that promises to let us use our voices and hands to do most of the stuff we currently do while looking at a smartphone screen.

The small device, roughly the size of a matchbox, has a camera and loudspeaker, but instead of a display, it has a laser projector that gives you information and playback controls on the palm of your hand.

The idea behind the Ai Pin, a thin square device measuring less than 5 cm in width, is that you attach it to your clothing with a magnet and wear it at chest height.

Instead of swiping at a screen, you operate it with voice commands and hand gestures. The camera and microphone play a special role here, as they form the AI’s eyes and ears, so to speak.

Using its eye, the software can recognise objects around it, as co-founder Imran Chaudhri demonstrated at a demo event earlier in November, holding a handful of almonds in front of the lens and asking how much protein they contain.

“15 grams,” was the prompt answer. Chaudhri then showed the Ai Pin a book and had it ordered online.

When the camera and microphone are switched on, a clearly visible light turns on at the top edge of the device. This lets people around the wearer know when they are and aren’t being filmed, photographed or watched by the AI.

In an interview with technology journalist Om Malik, Chaudhri said that the recordings are only stored on the device itself and in the cloud in a space that is only accessible to the respective users.

“It doesn’t go anywhere else. No one’s going to use that to learn anything about you.”

The device might seem a far leap from our current reality, in which things like navigating, watching content and reading messages seem impossible without a screen.

And yet other Humane isn’t alone in seeing the potential in giving AI access to wearable cameras, microphones and sensors to help us carry out tasks. For example, the Facebook group Meta is already selling the second generation of Ray-Ban glasses with a camera and microphone in the US.

“Smart glasses are the ideal form factor for you to let an AI assistant see what you are seeing and hear what you are hearing,” Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said.

Meanwhile startup RewindAI plans to launch a pendant that records and transcribes everything you say and hear.

The products do somewhat recall those of Dave Eggers’ dystopian Silicon Valley novel “The Circle”, which explores the implications of constant surveillance from wearable camera devices.

And yet the Ai Pin makes an initial impression as being far more practical than creepy, however, and Chaudhri demonstrated how it could help with real-time translation between English and Spanish, while one company ad simply lists handy everyday uses.

Hold your palm in front of the projector, and it displays information like the current time, music playback controls and updates on the weather.

The device also connects to wireless earphones like any smartphone, so you can stream music (in this case from Tidal).

One of the proclaimed goals of Chaudhri and his co-founder and wife Bethany Bongiorno was to make frequent interaction with screens unnecessary with the help of AI.

Rather than taking out a phone and swiping around on a screen, you ask the software for a summary of recent messages and calls. You can also ask for specific information, such as a door entry code that you once received from a friend.

Humane is initially launching the Ai Pin in the US only at a price of US$699 (RM3,246), with a further US$24 (RM111) per month subscription for wireless Internet, a phone number and cloud storage.

As such, the device is priced well below premium smartphones, even if it requires a monthly subscription to keep using it.

And while it could replace many of the smartphone’s tasks in everyday life, the absence of a screen means many will still want a second device with a screen for the likes of TikTok, YouTube and streaming shows.

OpenAI boss Sam Altman is also an investor in Humane, which has been collaborating with its ChatGPT AI to deliver bespoke answers. – dpa