AI Wearables 1.0: Was Humane’s AI Pin too ambitious?

Humane’s AI Pin (https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/20/inside-the-humane-acquisition-hp-offers-big-raises-to-some-others-immediately-laid-off/) , which promised to replace your smartphone with a sleek wearable device, is officially dead. After a rocky launch, negative reviews, and returns outpacing sales, the startup is shutting down and selling its assets to HP for $116 million – less than half of what it raised. But what’s next for Humane’s tech?

On today's episode of Equity (https://techcrunch.com/podcasts/equity/) , hosts Kirsten Korosec, Max Zeff and Anthony Ha are breaking down the week’s tech and startup headlines, including what HP might do with Humane’s resources and talent and how, as Max put it, the AI Pin was clearly ahead of its time.

Listen to the full episode to hear about:

• The people in Elon Musk’s DOGE universe (https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/18/the-people-in-elon-musk-doge-universe/) , the AI behind it, and the potential future of AI-powered government initiatives


• The new AI lab contenders, Safe Superintelligence (https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/18/safe-superintelligence-ilya-sutskevers-ai-startup-is-reportedly-close-to-raising-roughly-1b/) and Thinking Machines Lab (https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/18/thinking-machines-lab-is-ex-openai-cto-mira-muratis-new-startup/) , and whether VCs are putting more stock in talent than actual results


• The Uber v. DoorDash (https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/14/uber-sues-doordash-alleging-anti-competitive-tactics/) lawsuit over “anti-competitive tactics” 


• And why Duolingo’s mascot getting killed off in a Cybertruck crash is oddly working in the brand’s favor (https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/18/duolingo-killed-its-mascot-with-a-cybertruck-and-its-going-weirdly-well/)

Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday. 

Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1215439780) , Overcast (https://overcast.fm/itunes1215439780/equity) , Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/5IEYLip3eDppcOmy5DmphC?si=rZDFHv2sQUul_g94iCRgpQ) and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X (https://twitter.com/EquityPod) and Threads (https://www.threads.net/@equitypod) , at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes here (https://techcrunch.com/podcasts/equity/) .

Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. We’d also like to thank TechCrunch’s audience development team. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.

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Post from TechCrunch on February 21, 2025

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