Humane AI pin composite.
Humane AI
Hoping for a brief respite from AI in tech? Keep on dreaming as a recent report suggests Apple has plans to make an AirTag-like gadget that acts as an AI pin badge, a future interface for Apple Intelligence.
This is according to The Information, which claims Apple could release this device as soon as 2027.
Such an AI pin will act as the eyes and ears of an AI assistant, letting it see and hear roughly what you can.
To that end it reportedly uses two cameras, one with a much wider-angle view than the other, and three microphones. Such an array will help Apple separate outside noise from the sound of your own voice.
There’s a speaker, and a physical button, which could potentially be used to take photos or as a gestural shortcut to other commands — like waking the virtual assistant.
It’s expected to be a more upmarket design than that of the Apple AirTag, with a metal and glass outer, and slightly greater thickness than Apple’s tracker.
Apple AI’s Future And Present Headaches
There are a few significant hurdles ahead for this Apple AI pin, which is not claimed to be anything beyond the relatively early stages of development.
First, similar AI pins to date have mostly received a very poor reception. The Humane AI pin was effectively turned into a $700 brick when its servers were turned off in February 2025, less than a year after it began shipping in April 2024.
While AI assistants have developed significantly since 2024, Apple has not been at the forefront of those developments. Its own AI is so far behind the frontrunners, Apple earlier this month announced a partnership with Google, which involves the use of the company’s Gemini as the bedrock for future Apple Intelligence models.
“After careful evaluation, we determined that Google’s technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and we’re excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock,” Apple said.
One aspect that has made things difficult for Apple is its above-average commitment to privacy, with a key part of Apple Intelligence using a small on-device AI model rather than one that effectively runs on a cloud server.
The proposed Apple AI pin may never see an Apple Store shelf, but it is less ambitious than it may sound. It’s intended as a companion device to an iPhone, not a standalone AI tool. As such the key challenge is in nailing the underlying AI interaction experience, not just the AI pin’s hardware.