Humane's AI Pin is the wearable designed to replace your smartphone

Startup Humane has officially unveiled its first device following months of build-up and teasers: the wearable 'AI Pin'.

With a square design and a battery pack that magnetically attaches to your clothes and surfaces, the $699 wearable features a camera that can be used to pick up gestures, a miniature projector that replaces the need for a screen, and a microphone/speaker duo to listen and respond for voice control.

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In essence, it's billed as the AI-powered evolution of the modern smartphone, with a $24 monthly subscription fee also required to tack on a T-Mobile data package and a phone number. 

Currently, Humane suggests the wearable will begin shipping in early 2024, and pre-orders are going live through its own site on 16 November.

However, it's not clear yet when (or if) the device will be available outside of the US.

A (currently unspecified) Qualcomm Snapdragon chip powers the AI experience, with the wearable itself said to weigh 34g - and the battery module adding another 20g on top. 

As we saw Humane co-founder Imran Chaudhri illustrate on stage during a TED presentation earlier this year, the AI Pin's ability to cast information remains, projecting the Laser Ink Display onto areas like the user's palm.

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Voice control won't respond to any kind of wake word - or even be always listening - with the user instead manually kickstarting this process by swiping on the AI Pin's touchpad to send texts, play music, take photos through the built-in camera, or catch up on notifications.

A light will also blink while it listens, too, to alert those around you that data is being collected.

Unlike on a smartphone, in which you would navigate an on-screen UI to access these functions, the AI Pin will instead rely on Microsoft and OpenAI technology to deliver actions.

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So, in the absence of any traditional apps and services, then, Humane's 'Cosmos' operating system is designed to connect your requests and queries through different AI models.

Yet, this is all still pretty early days - and so the AI Pin's arrival appears at this stage to be the first step in a much bigger project. 

While a company like Apple views the future of the smartphone as an evolution of the Vision Pro headset, Humane is very much charting its own path with this form factor.

And only time will tell how the masses prefer to interact with ever-improving AI.