Feb 19 (Reuters) -

Artificial intelligence startup Humane is shutting down its

wearable pin business and selling its assets to personal

computer maker HP Inc ( HPQ ) for $116 million after getting

disappointing reviews and lack of orders for the product.

The deal gives HP access to the startup's Cosmos operating

system, technical talent and intellectual property, helping beef

up the personal computer maker's AI portfolio amid a weak

recovery in its core market.

The acquired talent will form HP's new AI innovation lab

focused on integrating Humane's machine learning capabilities,

HP said in a release on Tuesday.

The startup, founded by ex-Apple veterans, was one of many

that looked to make a splash in the AI boom with its wearable AI

pin that provided voice assistance to its users.

The company sought to position its product as a companion

which could integrate AI into people's everyday lives. The firm

raised around $241 million from Microsoft, OpenAI CEO Sam

Altman, and others.

But orders declined sharply following poor reviews from

many early customers, including a scathing one from technology

influencer Marques Brownlee, popularly known as MKBHD, who has

nearly 20 million subscribers on YouTube.

At one point, returns for the company's pins were outpacing

its sales, the Verge reported last year.

Humane said in a blog post that the pin will function

normally till February 28, after which the device will no longer

connect to the company's servers, rendering features like

calling, messaging, and AI queries inactive.