OpenAI just teamed up with ex-Apple design chief Jony Ive to build a new gadget aimed at generative AI. This device won’t look like anything you’ve seen before—no screen, no watch, no brooch.
Ive slammed current tech as "decades old" and said,
"It’s just common sense to at least think, surely there’s something beyond these legacy products."
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman hyped Ive’s prototype as
"the coolest piece of technology that the world will have ever seen."
Details are under wraps, but it’s clear OpenAI wants to rethink how we engage with AI beyond smartphones and speakers.
The AI Pin, a $699 badge-shaped gadget, flopped hard in 2024 and got pulled from the market. Industry watchers say the new OpenAI device is a chance to learn from that failure.
Big players like Meta, Google, and Amazon are doubling down on AI hardware. Google is working on AI-powered mixed-reality glasses. Amazon keeps upgrading Alexa. Apple is lagging, slowly adding AI to iPhones but delaying Siri upgrades.
Analyst Olivier Blanchard sees the future in a voice-driven AI hub that works offline for security and energy reasons:
"You can’t push it all out in the cloud… There is not enough energy in the world to do this, so we need to find local solutions."
OpenAI recently acquired Ive’s startup in a multi-billion deal and hired ex-Facebook exec Fidji Simo to lead AI applications strategy, focusing on this hardware question.
People want natural voice commands, not typing. Google CEO Sundar Pichai calls this "ambient computing"—AI that blends into everyday life, ready to talk whenever needed.
But smartphones remain central for now.
Expect a fierce race to build the must-have AI gadget. OpenAI has the cash and talent to make it happen.
Source: TechXplore
