Why the AI pin won’t be the next iPhone

From poor ergonomics to sci-fi wishful thinking, the AI pin’s problems are less technical and more conceptual—and history shows we’ve been here before.

One of the most frequent questions I’ve been getting from business execs lately is whether the AI pin will become the next great tech device. After all, with OpenAI recently finalizing its acquisition of Io Products, the AI hardware design firm led by legendary former Apple designer Jony Ive, it looks like we’ll soon see the next great interface: a voice-activated, lapel-pin-size AI device that’s a successor to the smartphone. And won’t it be a better, calmer form of technology, they ask me, freeing us from having to stare at a small screen in our hands?