OpenAI's First Hardware Is a Screenless ChatGPT Speaker
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- OpenAI plans to announce a screenless ChatGPT smart speaker — its first major hardware device — targeting a 2027 release, according to Bloomberg.
- The device will include a camera and sensors to "understand" the user's environment, a rechargeable battery for portability, and "mechanical elements that can move on their own" designed to connect "on a humanlike level."
- GPT-Live, the upgraded voice model OpenAI announced last week, will power the speaker alongside smart home controls, media playback, Q&A, and messaging capabilities.
- Jony Ive, the former Apple designer, is collaborating on the device as part of a broader OpenAI hardware lineup of roughly five products, following OpenAI's nearly $6.5 billion acquisition of his design firm io Products.
- Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI days before the Bloomberg report, accusing the AI company of stealing hardware secrets; OpenAI says it is "not aware of any evidence that this complaint has merit."
- OpenAI is separately teasing the Codex Micro, a gadget made with Work Louder and scheduled for release on July 15.
Why it matters: OpenAI's first consumer hardware launch in 2027 — built with Jony Ive's design team after a nearly $6.5 billion acquisition — lands in the middle of an active Apple lawsuit alleging OpenAI stole hardware secrets, meaning the device's rollout will be scrutinized not just as a product but as evidence in the very legal fight Apple opened.
