Silicon Valley has difficulty envisioning a post-smartphone future

Smartphone sales continue to increase, according to data from research firm Counterpoint Research. Specifically, the number of smartphones shipped in the fourth quarter of 2023 increased by 7% over the same period in 2022 to 323.2 million units, showing that the demand for using devices to serve the lives of many people is still very strong. Despite the conveniences they bring, there is still some motivation to find a life beyond smartphones.

The impact on sleep, the risk to children's mental health from overuse, and looking at screens for too long are all legitimate concerns with smartphones. That's why companies have put so much effort into coming up with smartphone alternatives.

Google tried to create $1,500 smart glasses in the 2010s but failed miserably. Meta Platforms is trying to bring more sophistication with artificial intelligence (AI)-powered Ray-Ban smart glasses. Now, in the AI ​​era, startup Humane is trying to turn a clothespin device called the AI ​​Pin into the future of technology. Unfortunately, this also feels like a dead end on the road towards a post-smartphone future.

Humane, the startup founded in 2018 by husband-and-wife duo Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno - two former Apple managers, is busy developing an AI-powered wearable pin, providing smartphone capabilities while eliminating spend endless screen time.

As Humane says, "whether you're making calls, sending messages, looking for answers, capturing moments, taking notes, or managing your digital world," AI Pin helps you get organized .

But after reading reviews of the first version of AIU Pin this week, smartphone users will certainly continue to be glued to the screen for a while longer.

AI Pin hits shelves in the US for $699 and is considered by Humane's founders to be the beginning of "everywhere computing". The Verge site describes AI Pin as "an interesting idea but completely incomplete and completely broken in many unacceptable ways".

In its review of the AI ​​Pin, which requires a $24 monthly subscription to operate, The Verge admitted it looks neat but falls short on almost everything else, such as its lack of basic functions. such as alarms, problems when making calls, errors in streaming music.

Others have had trouble uploading high-resolution images they take with the AI ​​Pin to Humane's cloud storage service, and the AI ​​is intended to make the device feel like a "second brain." sometimes like "brain dead". AI Battery overheating also seems to be an issue with many reviewers.

Silicon Valley has difficulty envisioning a post-smartphone future Picture 1

In the promotional video, AI Pin's features look like something out of science fiction. Imagine picking up a dragon fruit in a crowded produce aisle. You touch a device clipped to your jacket, hold up the dragon fruit and ask, "Is this edible?". The device quickly answered out loud: "Yes. Dragon fruit is low in sugar."

The video uses voice commands with AI to answer questions, summarize text messages, translate languages ​​and play music, as well as a camera that can look at things and tell you about them. The most surprising thing is the small laser screen that can project into your hand and respond to hand gestures.

The downside is that you look like a weirdo, talking to a piece of fruit in the middle of the grocery store.

A promotional video shows Imran Chaudhri, Bethany Bongiorno introducing some features and specifications of AI Battery. Another video shows people using it in everyday life situations such as walking down the street, shopping and eating.

The issue that immediately comes to many people's minds is never wanting to talk to a voice command device in public. It is strange behavior in society. Voice assistants like Siri and Alexa have been around for many years now, and social norms about whether using them in public is weird or not have been established: Don't do it!

Of course, voice assistants provide accessibility for people who may have difficulty using touchscreen phones. Perhaps normalizing the use of voice assistants in public would be a good thing, but it hasn't really happened in the more than a decade since Siri launched.

If AI Pin's idea is to offer a screen-less version of the phone, imagine that would be very appealing to many people on the go who don't want to get caught up checking Facebook and Instagram. Some people bought an Apple Watch with cellular for this exact reason: To stay connected if needed but without the distraction of scrolling the screen. One person said he bought a flip phone as a 'weekend phone' so he could spend more time with his children when not working.

However, AI Battery is not like a flip phone. AI Batteries do a lot of the things a phone can do: Take photos, tell you information, make appointments, track calories, shop for you, or play your favorite playlist. Katie Notopoulos, a female reporter for Insider, does not believe that AI Batteries can replace or be more useful than regular smartphones to do this.

Some features of AI Pin in the demo do not seem right. You can ask AI Pin to summarize the content of the latest messages. AI Pin does this impressively, but it's unlikely to be any more useful than users reading messages themselves.

Users can read messages much faster than listening to AI Pin speak. Reading is truly an extremely effective method of absorbing information.

When you think about some of the things that AI Pin can do like play music or answer basic informational questions, those are things that smartphones are doing very well and quickly.

Being powered by AI is one of the big attractions of AI Battery. But if Apple starts integrating AI into Siri, which is highly likely, that feature will no longer be unique.

Mark Gurman, a veteran Bloomberg journalist specializing in reporting on Apple for many years, commented that 'smartphones will last much longer than expected'.

Humane's Bethany Bongiorno seems to have acknowledged this. Responding to Mark Gurman on social network X, she said "smartphones will not disappear in a short time because no computer can replace it".

Even Apple, which entered the new hardware market this year with the $3,500 Vision Pro, is positioning its mixed reality glasses as a product that works in tandem with the iPhone.

However, Silicon Valley (USA) is betting that ChatGPT and other generative AI tools will pave the way for a mobile device to succeed the smartphone.

Consensus seems to be emerging from various corners of the tech world: More than 15 years after the iPhone's launch, ChatGPT and other AI services may soon form the basis of a new type of hardware device and a completely different way of interacting between humans and computers.

According to The Information, Sam Altman (OpenAI CEO) and Jony Ive (former Apple Design Director) have collaborated to design and produce a personal device that supports generative AI, while also looking for sources. sponsor the project.

There is currently little information available describing the personal AI device developed by Jony Ive and Sam Altman's startup LoveFrom. Sam Altman is a major investor in Humane, so it is likely that his and Jony Ive's new device will go in the AI ​​Battery direction.

Jony Ive aims to raise $1 billion in funding. LoveFrom has approached investors such as billionaire Masayoshi Son of SoftBank Group, Thrive Capital (investor in OpenAI), venture capital firm Emerson Collective and Laurene Powell Jobs' charity organization.

Jony Ive's efforts may cause LoveFrom to confront Apple in the future when focusing on developing AI. Jony Ive left Apple in 2019 after nearly three decades of work and founded LoveFrom.

Isabella Humphrey

Update 13 April 2024