Humane’s Ai Pin was a flop. Now it’s a recycling nightmare

The Humane Ai Pin promised to be the next big thing in wearable tech but the device failed to attract users, becoming instead a poster child for AI's contribution to the global e-waste problem.

The pins were designed by artificial intelligence start-up Humane to be worn on clothing and could be tapped to talk to a virtual assistant.

Thousands of the $700 (about R12,776) devices are now obsolete after Humane shut down its business in February and sold its assets to personal computer maker HP for $116m, after receiving few orders and disappointing reviews for the product. The pins went offline on February 28.

Experts said the pin, like other AI-enhanced wearables, is difficult to recycle because of the large amounts of glue used in the devices, underscoring how AI products threaten to worsen the world's e-waste problem.

“These products are designed based on the consumers' desires and affordability,” said Berrin Tansel, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Florida International University.

Making them easier to recycle would require the cost of the material recovery process to be fronted by the manufacturer, making them more expensive, Tansel said.

Only 22.3% of the world's 62-billion kg of e-waste was recycled in 2022, according to the latest data available from the UN global e-waste monitor.

Meanwhile, the use of the technology is only expected to grow. The International Data Corporation, a global analytics company, expects over 600-million wearable devices to be manufactured by 2028, up 20% from 2023.

"[Wearable] electronics and AI are addictive for consumers. They enhance our abilities beyond what is possible naturally,” said Tansel.

“The gadgets are desired to be smaller and lightweight. That makes the recovery of materials for recycling purposes practically impossible. Even when recovery is possible for some metals from discarded products, it is not economically feasible.”

Wearable waste

Electronic recyclers prioritise recovering undamaged components, such as screens, speakers, and internal chips, which can be reused and sold.

Afterwards, a device will be broken down for rare earth metals.

Humane is encouraging users to recycle pins through any local e-waste programmes. “At Humane, we are committed to sustainability, ensuring that both our packaging and devices can be responsibly recycled,” it said on its website.

But Shahram Mokhtari, a technician from repair company iFixit, said Humane's heavy use of glue makes recycling more expensive and environmentally hazardous.

This additional labour cuts into recyclers' margins, making disassembly unprofitable, with only a fraction of the resources and work involved in making the devices in the first place likely to be recovered in the recycling process, Mokhtari said.

“This thing was terrible for the environment even before it was discontinued. Glued in batteries that are hard to remove and impossible to get to will always result in unnecessary waste and pollution,” Mokhtari told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by email.

“This is now a sunk cost for consumers and the planet that will never be fully recovered,” he said.

When contacted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation about its plans for recycling the pin, Humane provided a link to the recycling advice on its website but declined to comment further. HP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Another, more popular, wearable is Meta's Ray-Bans — glasses enhanced with microphones, speakers and an AI assistant.

The tech giant has sold over 2-million units since 2023, according to EssilorLuxottica, which manufactures the glasses.

When contacted for a comment on its plans for recycling the glasses, Meta referred to a blog post telling users to use local authorities or waste disposal services.

But iFixit published a video in December 2023 showing that replacing the battery is difficult and removing components can only be done by destroying the plastic.

“If you open these glasses up, don't expect them to go back together,” the video said. “Cool glasses, but ultimately nothing more than vanity fuelled e-waste.”

When asked how it would ensure future products can be effectively recycled, Meta declined to comment.

Long-life laws

Legislation should be introduced to insist on easily-replaceable batteries in smartphones, laptops and AI-driven wearables, said Elizabeth Chamberlain, iFixit's director of sustainability.

The EU's 2023 battery directive is meant to ensure that batteries have a low carbon footprint, use minimal harmful substances, use less raw materials, and are collected, reused and recycled to a high degree.

However, recycling capacity in the EU and Britain is only about a tenth of what is required to meet recycling targets by 2030, according to a 2024 report from T&E, a clean transport and energy advocacy group. The US does not have an equivalent national law.

Chamberlain said laws should require companies to disclose end-of-life plans at the point of sale.

“In an ideal world, all products would become automatically open-sourced and part designs would become available when manufacturer support ends,” she said.

Tansel said that over time the materials used in small electronics will become more expensive, which could result in programmes from companies to buy back old products for parts, but this is unlikely in the short-term.

“Awareness of the potential impacts of waste and the significance of environmental quality [water, soil, air] on the wellbeing of humans is not at a level yet for the implementation of effective policies for the design and development of these products,” she said.

Thomson Reuters Foundation