Humane AI Pin owners warned: stop using the charge case accessory 'immediately'
Humane AI Pin owners warned: stop using the charge case accessory 'immediately'
Humane has issued a warning to all AI Pin owners after a fault has been discovered
🚨 Humane has issued a warning to customers
✋ It’s advised that AI Pin owners stop using the charging case
🪫 A problem with a third-party battery supplier is to blame
🙇♂️ Humane is offering customers two free months of its Humane subscription
After recently launching its AI Pin to subpar reviews, Humane is facing another obstacle.
The company has issued a warning telling AI Pin owners that they should “immediately” stop using the charging case that comes with its $699 device as it “may pose a fire risk.”
It appears the problem can occur when using a third-party USB-C cable and a third-party power source, which interacts negatively with the battery cell that Humane says is from “a third-party vendor”.
Humane has said it is no longer working with the same battery supplier as it “was no longer meeting our quality standards” and will work with “a new vendor to avoid such issues and maintain our high-quality standards.”
Humane said the issue is isolated to only certain battery cells used in the Charge Case Accessory and is not related to the Charge Case Accessory hardware design. Its Battery Booster(s) and Charge Pad are also not affected.
In an email to customers, as seen by The Verge, Humane said:
Out of an abundance of caution, we are reaching out today to ask that you immediately stop using and charging your Charge Case Accessory due to an issue with certain battery cells for the Charge Case Accessory.
Upon receiving a single report of a charging issue while using a third-party USB-C cable and third-party power source, we identified a quality issue with the battery cell supplied by a third-party vendor used in your Charge Case Accessory.
Our investigation determined that the battery supplier was no longer meeting our quality standards and that there is a potential that certain battery cells supplied by this vendor may pose a fire safety risk. As a result, we immediately disqualified this battery vendor while we work to identify a new vendor to avoid such issues and maintain our high quality standards.
The issue identified is isolated only to certain battery cells used in the Charge Case Accessory and is not related to the Charge Case Accessory hardware design.
Importantly, Humane’s Ai Pin, its Battery Booster(s) and Charge Pad are not affected as the disqualified vendor does not supply batteries or any other components of those Humane products, and are safe for continued use.
While we know this may cause an inconvenience to you, customer safety is our priority at Humane. We design Ai Pin and related accessories with safety top of mind, and rigorously test and certify them to applicable US and international safety standards.
We appreciate your understanding and will be providing you with two additional months free of the Humane subscription.
Rest assured we are committed to your safety and satisfaction and will share additional information when we have concluded our investigation.
The Humane Team
Humane hasn’t issued the same warning on its social media channels or on its website, which is slightly odd considering the implications. It’s also unclear whether two free months of the Humane subscription will be enough to satisfy those who may encounter the issue.
Led by former Apple employees Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, Humane is reportedly seeking a buyer and has set a valuation price of “between $750 million and $1 billion”, according to Bloomberg. It might need to revise that figure, depending on how it handles this issue.
Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.