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Humane, the startup known for its innovative AI Pin wearable computer, is reportedly seeking a buyer for its business. According to a Bloomberg report, which cites anonymous sources, the company is looking for a valuation between $750 million and $1 billion. This move comes in the wake of a challenging public launch of their AI Pin device last month, an event that has significantly impacted the company's trajectory.

The $699 AI Pin's debut may make this a difficult proposition: the device has faced significant criticism for its sluggish responses and a user experience that does not live up to the always-on, wearable AI assistant concept promised by its founders before release. The product was marketed, at least in part, as a means for people to become more present and lessen their increasing reliance on smartphones.

Humane created its own operating system called CosmOS to power the AI Pin. This system connects to a network of AI models to provide answers to voice queries and analyze what the built-in camera sees. For certain interactions, the device projects a laser "display" onto the wearer's inner palm. Keeping the device active requires a monthly subscription.

According to the Bloomberg report, Humane has secured $230 million in funding from investors, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Altman is reportedly working on a separate product in collaboration with renowned Apple designer Jony Ive, which could potentially better demonstrate the capabilities of AI.

Humane was valued at $850 million by investors in 2023, but this was prior to the widespread criticism of its first product. While the AI Pin contains some novel and clever ideas, its software is underdeveloped and inconsistent, and the hardware suffers from poor battery life and overheating issues. Humane has promised to address some of these bugs with firmware updates. Just last week, it integrated OpenAI's GPT-4o model to further enhance the device's capabilities.

The list of potential buyers for Humane appears to be quite small given the price the startup aims to obtain. Companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft are all heavily invested in AI development—particularly in large language models and generative AI—but it remains uncertain how much value Humane's intellectual property would add to their existing projects.