<story><title>Humane AI – Pico Laser Projection – AI Twist on an Old Scam (2023)</title><url>https://kguttag.com/2023/12/06/humane-ai-pico-laser-projection-230m-ai-twist-on-an-old-scam/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>gizmo</author><text>Every once in a while a highly funded startup launches a hilariously bad product. Five or so years ago everybody (rightfully) made fun of the juicero. Before that we had Google Glass (glasshole). Today the Humane Pin has to suffer slings and arrows.&lt;p&gt;Humane AI would never have been able to raise 230+ million had they been truthful about what could be built with the current state of technology. Did the investors understand that you have to recharge the Humane Pin every 2 hours? Did the investors know their laser projection press photos are photoshopped? Did the investors know the laser projector doesn&amp;#x27;t meet the advertised resolution? The Humane Pin is science fiction.&lt;p&gt;In many ways the Humane Pin is like Theranos. Holmes probably didn&amp;#x27;t mean to defraud people. She just raised money for a product that couldn&amp;#x27;t be built with the current state of technology.</text></item><item><author>Havoc</author><text>Seems a bit much calling it a scam. That to me implies malicious intent which I don’t think is in place here. Bad&amp;#x2F;imperfect products happen even to well meaning companies.&lt;p&gt;Must admit I’m surprised by the aggressiveness of it all. It’s almost like an echo chamber where people have decided it’s ok to pile on</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>hbn</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t know if Google Glass really fits in with the rest of that list. That wasn&amp;#x27;t some overfunded VC startup that ended up releasing a bad, overhyped product. It was essentially a side-project from Google. I don&amp;#x27;t think was ever publicly available - it was only sold to a small number of select applicants, and as far as I remember it did what they claimed (which wasn&amp;#x27;t much).</text></comment>
<story><title>Humane AI – Pico Laser Projection – AI Twist on an Old Scam (2023)</title><url>https://kguttag.com/2023/12/06/humane-ai-pico-laser-projection-230m-ai-twist-on-an-old-scam/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>gizmo</author><text>Every once in a while a highly funded startup launches a hilariously bad product. Five or so years ago everybody (rightfully) made fun of the juicero. Before that we had Google Glass (glasshole). Today the Humane Pin has to suffer slings and arrows.&lt;p&gt;Humane AI would never have been able to raise 230+ million had they been truthful about what could be built with the current state of technology. Did the investors understand that you have to recharge the Humane Pin every 2 hours? Did the investors know their laser projection press photos are photoshopped? Did the investors know the laser projector doesn&amp;#x27;t meet the advertised resolution? The Humane Pin is science fiction.&lt;p&gt;In many ways the Humane Pin is like Theranos. Holmes probably didn&amp;#x27;t mean to defraud people. She just raised money for a product that couldn&amp;#x27;t be built with the current state of technology.</text></item><item><author>Havoc</author><text>Seems a bit much calling it a scam. That to me implies malicious intent which I don’t think is in place here. Bad&amp;#x2F;imperfect products happen even to well meaning companies.&lt;p&gt;Must admit I’m surprised by the aggressiveness of it all. It’s almost like an echo chamber where people have decided it’s ok to pile on</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>edent</author><text>I think if I were investing a few million into something, I might ask &amp;quot;what&amp;#x27;s the battery life?&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;Can I try it on my hand?&amp;quot; before coughing up the cash.&lt;p&gt;But then, I&amp;#x27;m not a VC. I guess they go off vibes?</text></comment>