Humane warns AI Pin owners to ‘immediately’ stop using its charging case
Wes Davis, for The Verge:
Humane is telling AI Pin owners today that they should “immediately” stop using the charging case that came with its AI gadget. There are issues with a third-party battery cell that “may pose a fire safety risk,” the company wrote in an email to customers.
Humane says it has “disqualified” that vendor and is moving to find another supplier. It also specified that the AI Pin itself, the magnetic Battery Booster, and its charging pad are “not affected.” As recompense, the company is offering two free months of its subscription service, which is required for most of its functionality. The company didn’t say if it will offer a replacement charging case, only that it “will share additional information” after investigating the issue.
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Here is Humane’s full email:
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
The hits just keep coming for Humane and their AI Pin, this probably won't look great for their search for a buyer, but it may keep their purchase price down at least.