Paul Jones / Android Authority
When you take a zoomed-out view of the AI landscape, you see tools, services, and products mushrooming from literally every corner. It feels like AI is now a part of our lives in every way that matters.
But zoom in a little further, and you’ll notice something else. It’s the AI companies that are fighting for your attention and racing to shove AI into every possible place, whether it makes sense or not. AI pins that clip onto your shirt collar as an omnipresent AI tool fall squarely into this category. They feel forced, especially when there are clearly better form factors that could do the job far more naturally.
Even if the rumored Apple AI pin becomes a reality, I’d still pick Google’s AI glasses over it any day.
Which AI hardware makes more sense to you? 6 votes Smart glasses with visual AI 67 % A screenless AI pin 0 % Just improve phones and watches 17 % None of this needs new hardware yet 17 %
AI pins are doomed from day one
Humane
Donald Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things underlines a simple reality: products succeed only when they align with users’ mental models. They fail when people are asked to adapt to entirely new behaviors instead of extending existing ones that already feel intuitive.
We adjusted to touchscreens fairly quickly a couple of decades ago because we were already using our thumbs to type on BlackBerry keyboards. Touch wasn’t an alien interaction; it simply replaced physical keys with something more convenient — one that needed a light touch instead of a firm press.
Device makers should focus on reducing friction instead of expecting people to adapt to new form factors overnight.
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