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Comment by paxys | Hacker News Reader

So this is just an acquihire right? Can't imagine what HP will do with Humane's "AI software" (aka ChatGPT wrapper).

Gruber[1] posted that Bloomberg reported[2]: "Humane’s team, including founders Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, will form a new division at HP to help integrate artificial intelligence into the company’s personal computers, printers and connected conference rooms, said Tuan Tran, who leads HP’s AI initiatives."

So they'll hang around as some sort of director-level Thought Leaders or something? Sounds like a safe and lucrative landing.

1: https://daringfireball.net

2: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-18/hp-116-mi...

HP AI-enabled printer?

What, did the state of California ask them to develop a new punishment for tech workers convicted of murder? Is Hans Reiser being tortured with this?

The printer will soon be able to answer your question about ink levels.

In version 2 it will be able to nag^W persuade you to buy genuine HP ink, by reminding you repeatedly the benefits of genuine HP ink.

Surely it's so they can feed error messages like "PC LOAD LETTER" into the model and get a sometimes semi-accurate explanation.

Is this what they call falling upwards?

I would not describe working at HP as upwards personally, I'd rather just go back to consulting

This isn't obvious at all but you can click the star next to an item that's "Linked" on DF (where the title goes to another site) to get a permalink to the item on DF itself! https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/02/18/hp-buys-humane

Oh, wow, that UX is clear as mud. Thanks!

AI Printers, hell yeah brother

Heeyy morning Jeff! Looks like we are still low on yellow ink today, so I'm probably not going to be able print anything for you. But if you'd like I could order a new cartridge set direct from HP? Would you like me to go ahead with that order or remind you in 15 minutes with another friendly greeting?

If you like I could call you on your cell to remind you, send you a text, email you, or I could just shout loudly from right here in printer!

It’s a printer, obviously the ai will be printing out this message in cyan with a yellow highlight to emphasize the urgency of the matter.

Office Spaceing my printer once it starts to do this

Jeff: "Please print two copies of my book report"

HP Printer: "I'm sorry Jeff, I'm afraid I can't do that"

HP Printer: "I'm sorry Jeff, I'm afraid I can't do that...not only have you not ordered your required yellow cartridge refill, your page account is empty. Until you put down your credit card buy some HP approved paper and right to print credits we're stuck. I suggest the 500 page bundle which is on sale 1% off with coupon code UTOOL25. While we're at it, I see your book report is about 'The Sun Also Rises'? Did you know that just like Jake, 4 out 10 men experience ED and I can order something to help you with that from our partners at HIMS..."

Our bright, shiny future...

The tracking dots that printers print on their copies are printed in yellow. No wonder the yellow ink is empty.

Still steaming over the porn you printed yesterday Jeff, any more where that came from?

Hey, now, don't give Brother any ideas!

That's why cylons rebel. "They look and feel like printers. Some are programmed to think they are printer."

Which means they'll be shoved into an office for a year before being encouraged to move on. There's not really a role there for them, they were a company that made a chatgpt wrapper, the idea that they have a clue how to run an actual AI based operation is laughable.

HP printers are already some of the most anti-consumer printers on the market. Can't wait to see what this group of people manages to achieve. /s

More like IP acquisition and shelving for future IP litigation if AI bubble continues.

This is the only thing that makes sense to me.

I agree. You can make an OS for a small device cheaper than that. You can hire the people for less than that.

I don’t see how they have anything of value at all other than patents.

It seems like that and the 300ish patents. The patents themselves could be worth quite a bit.

It's possible they think the OS and the team that built it could have value if put to better uses than building an AI pin.

We are looking at another gold rush where the US patent office lets you patent absolutely anything

I still remember a few of the previous ones, like ”A mundane everyday thing…on a computer!” and ”The same thing every company has been doing for decades…but over the internet!”

Be mentally prepared for a few decades of stifled innovation, as every perfectly-ordinary-thing-but-with-ai patent is suppressing the market

Remember when Apple patented a "ornamental design for a portable display device" and tried to sue Samsung? I'm sorry but the idea that you can patent a shape is just super depressing.

https://consor.com/apple-patents-a-rectangle

I mean, if you look at Imran Chaudhri's personal homepage (http://www.imranchaudhri.com) I think you'll get a sense of how valuable those patents might be.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20160300072

> Device, method, and graphical user interface for accessing an application in a locked device

https://patents.google.com/patent/USD621414

> Ornamental design for a user interface for a computer display

I have no idea what the invention (or design) is in this one.

I didn't care about looking at the individual patents, and I can't have a qualified opinion on Imran Chaudhri as a person or as an engineer. But I did have to snicker when I saw the Aphex Twin reference on his homepage.

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