How to build a DOA product: Humane AI Pin founders banned internal criticism

I just learned today that one of the "core values" at ASML is that you should "challenge" things.

This makes for a nice comparison.

That's a whole category that should have been an app.

Little throwback. In 2015, I built an audio-augmented reality running game using Bluetooth beacons. It worked better as an app.

That headline almost made me spill my coffee.

But in all seriousness, it’s amazing that something like this still happens today. And I can only imagine massive amounts of hubris from the founder‘s side is to blame.

Around launch I wondered if they seriously believed what they promised and if anybody there ever tried it themselves.

Turns out they didn’t, actually.

I kind of suspect that the techno-optimism that plagues the AI sector has metastasised into a more general toxic optimism. This is not the first AI-ish product which was clearly unsuitable for release, yet released anyway.

Part of my (and everyone's) job is to engage in constructive criticism. Companies that discourage this are to be completely avoided as an employee, customer, or investor.