Highly touted hardware launch Human has announced it’s laying off 10 employees – 4% of its workforce – before it ships one of its funky new ambient computing devices.
The company’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is also “transitioning” into a consulting role after five years with the company.
“As we begin this new chapter of Humane, moving from stealth to customer facing, we’re making some changes to better prepare us for continued growth,” CEO and Co-Founder Bethany Bongiorno He wrote in a LinkedIn post (eg mentionted with The lip).
It was founded in 2017 by former Apple executives Bongiorno and Imran ChaudhryHumane had built a significant chunk of change from big-name backers, including OpenAI’s Sam Altman, before the company finally announced to the world last June what it was working on — the Ai Pin, a wearable device that packs a bunch of sensors and AI Smarts , with a projector that transmits information to any surface.
Human in action Image credits: Human
Humane has cranked its PR machine into overdrive these past few months, first revealing in November that the Ai Pin would cost $699 plus a $24 monthly subscription fee to support its push into the MVNO realm, with the shipment will start in March this year.
However, two months before anything leaves the Humane plant, Bongiorno has made a few HR announcements, including some internal promotions. However, buried in the announcement was the news that 4% of its 250 employees are leaving the company, along with the longtime CTO Patrick Gates who worked as a senior engineer at Apple for 13 years before joining his former colleagues at Humane in early 2019.
Humane has not revealed who the new CTO will be, or even if there will be a new CTO – but the official reason for Gates’ resignation was that he wants to spend more time with his family.
It’s clear that Humane knows the optics around these changes, particularly in an economic climate that has seen many established companies struggle — let alone a hardware startup that’s generated a lot of buzz before bringing a single product to market. That’s likely why departures were almost relegated to footnotes in Bongiorno’s position, with internal promotions and a new hire placed front and center — along with a reminder that the company is still actively hiring (7 new rolesto be precise).
