When Humane released its Ai Pin, the San Francisco-based gadget maker envisioned a world with dedicated AI devices — something that you would carry with you in addition to the smartphone in your pocket.
However, reviews and sales haven’t been great — returns reportedly begun to outpace unit sales at one point. And Humane recently dropped the price of its device from $700 to $500. While the AI device is still on sale, it’s unclear what’s next for the company — which at least doesn’t lack for funding (to the tune of more than $230 million).
Now, Humane is pitching something new — an operating system called CosmOS that could (potentially) greatly improve all the tech devices in your life. In a slick demo video, the company showed the OS running on a car’s entertainment system, a smart speaker, a TV, and an Android phone.
In many ways, CosmOS hints at what Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant or Apple’s Siri could become if/when they are combined with AI agent-like capabilities. It’s a voice assistant that can understand complex queries and interact with other apps and services on your behalf.
Humane says that CosmOS is based on the operating system that powers its Ai Pin. “This intelligent conductor seamlessly coordinates various AI models, data sets, services, and device capabilities to deliver a fluid, intuitive experience,” the company said in the video.
In its first example, the person in the video talks to CosmOS in their car and asks the assistant to turn up the heat at home. In the same query, they also want to know when people are coming over tonight.
We’re also instantly reminded that Humane is once again pitching a vision more than a product: The logo on the steering wheel is blurred out and there’s a note saying it’s “for illustration purposes only. Does not reflect available car functionality.”
Other use-case examples in the video include asking for takeout restaurant recommendations, asking for a recipe that the user already checked the day before, and asking a question about a sports game. The smart speaker used in the video is also blurred out.
On the TV, Humane is pitching a multimodal and multi-step use case. For instance, you could ask how many goals a soccer player has scored this season. The AI assistant is supposed to understand who you are talking about based on the player on the screen and then answer your original question.
As for the smartphone integration, the demo reminds me of Apple’s pitch for a better Siri powered by Apple Intelligence at WWDC earlier this year. In Humane’s case, CosmOS understand what’s on your screen and can interact with your calendar in the background.
Humane claims that third-party developers will be able to build integrations between CosmOS and their “agents, data, and services.” In reality, the demo video feels more like a sales pitch — to see if there’s any company out there that would be interested in acquiring Humane and repurposing Humane’s software in their own products.
