New Humane Demo Video: "[What is Ai Pin?](https://youtube.com/watch?v=1H4SNFtEzys)" via John Gruber at [Daring Fireball](https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/03/22/new-humane-demo) Humane and their Ai Pin have been one of those tech curiosities that I can't help not look at—sort of like my toddler playing with an N64 controller and having no idea how to handle the thing. She's funny, cringe-inducing, and demands your attention. Their new video to try and help further explain the Ai Pin and its uses doesn't help.[^1] Let's start with Gruber's main observation: > One clever trick each presenter in this new video does is continue talking to the audience while waiting for responses from the Ai Pin (which, it seems, can take a while). Clever in the way of masking the wait time. When some of the presenters just sit in silence, waiting, the time for a response feels awful. Even worse though is when the presenters that are talking during the gap are interrupted by the pin. It's awkward, because they have no indication of when the pin will generate an answer and speak. Some of the questions and answers took so long, that it would have been leagues faster to use a phone or a computer or to ask a nearby person or look up at the sky and gauge the weather for yourself. An example similar to one of my own stuck out. Imran asks the pin to [help it with a task in Adobe After Effects](https://youtube.com/watch?v=1H4SNFtEzys&t=529). Offloading this task to the Ai Pin, rather than a Google search, video tutorial, or written manual allows Imran to "stay focused and in the flow." As a video editor, if I don't know how to do something, I can't stay in the flow until I know how to do the thing. Which is evident in Imran's example because he sits there waiting for instructions on how to do the thing. Digging a smidge deeper, we know that Humane is [using openAI's ChatGPT](https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/9/23953901/humane-ai-pin-launch-date-price-openai#) and then reading the response back to you. Who wants to execute a tutorial or instructions that are only spoken once? A tutorial or written forum post would be way more helpful. And then there's the problem of when ChatGPT is wrong. I had a very similar situation when [[How ChatGPT Came to My Rescue|I asked ChatGPT for help in Final Cut Pro]]. The answer the LLM gave me was *wrong*, but it set me on the right path with a term I needed to find a tutorial that lead me to success. I didn't wait for an answer and stayed in the flow. This took a significant chunk of time to solve and use multiple resources to solve. My problem was more complicated than a time stretch in After Effects, but the core of my complaint stands. No one is going to want to listen to instructions one time without visual aid when trying to learn or troubleshoot. The worst looking part was this [new unlock method](https://youtube.com/watch?v=1H4SNFtEzys&t=757) involving swipes and taps. With no UI or visual cues at all, how does a user know when and where they may have gotten a gesture wrong, especially for a device that is facing outward from their person. The craziest part is they just use the [*Super Mario Bros.* 1-Up sound effect](https://themushroomkingdom.net/media/smb/wav) to indicate the device is unlocked. [Seriously](https://youtube.com/watch?v=1H4SNFtEzys&t=766). It's like gas stations that use the [Sonic rings sound at the cash register](https://youtube.com/watch?v=VKa0U3CSTuA). One more thing; Gruber's other observation. > ...and better at making videos. This is subjective, but I thought the style of this video reeked like corporation trying to be a YouTuber. This kind of makes sense when you consider [Sam Sheffer](https://www.youtube.com/c/samsheffer) is the Head of New Media at Humane. The framing feels crowded. There are a handful of line flubs that come off as mistakes, not genuine vlog-styled dialogue. There's a meme inserted [randomly](https://youtube.com/watch?v=1H4SNFtEzys&t=619) in the middle. It's just strange and not inline with the vibe Humane's [site](https://humane.com) gives off. *Maybe* it's better than their initial product reveal, but I think that's a stretch. Humane's Ai Pin is shipping over the next two months. We'll see how funny, cringe-inducing, and worthy of our attention the pin will be once it hits the streets. --- [^1]: Or does it help since I am writing about it?