- More details of OpenAI’s hardware plans have leaked
- There could be multiple AI devices on the way
- The first launch could happen by the end of next year
We know that ChatGPT developer OpenAI is working on hardware devices that will enable us to carry around an AI chatbot with us at all times, and a new report sheds some light on the sort of gadgets we can expect to see.
The report comes from The Information, and indicates that smart glasses, a digital voice recorder, a wearable pin, and a smart speaker without a display are all on the drawing board to some extent or other – though they may not all be developed fully.
Also included in the report are some details about the hardware partners OpenAI is working with, and some of them – including Luxshare and Goertek – are companies that Apple has also worked with to develop gadgets.
That’s perhaps no surprise given the involvement of Jony Ive with the OpenAI projects, who was Apple’s design chief for many years. According to the sources speaking to The Information, a number of product executives have also moved from Apple to OpenAI.
Coming next year… maybe
As for when we might see these gadgets, the target for a launch is apparently late 2026 or early 2027, so there’s still a while to wait yet. It seems likely that one single device will launch first, with the others potentially following over time.
All of these new details chime with what we’ve previously heard about OpenAI’s hardware plans. It would appear that the idea is to design something that complements our existing phones, tablets, and laptops, rather than replacing them.
We’ve already heard talk of an always-on wearable of some description or another, which would be available to answer questions in the usual ChatGPT style, as well as – perhaps – record voice memos and conversations for future analysis.
However, AI gadgets along these lines that we’ve seen before haven’t been a huge success: consider the Rabbit R1 and the Humane AI Pin, for example. The OpenAI team will be hoping that they can do better.