OpenAI is locked in a trademark fight with Google-backed startup iyO over AI hardware. The dispute reveals fresh details on OpenAI’s hush-hush device plans with Jony Ive’s startup io.
The lawsuit comes from iyO, which makes custom-molded earpieces. OpenAI recently took down promo materials tied to its $6.5 billion buyout of io to comply with a court order.
Docs show OpenAI and io spent a year researching in-ear gear, buying 30+ sets to scope the market. They even met iyO’s leadership and demoed tech. But according to io’s co-founder and former Apple exec Tang Tan, the first OpenAI/io prototype is not an in-ear or wearable device. The design isn’t locked and the product is at least a year from launch. 
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman described the device as a “third device” to use alongside your phone and laptop. It’s pocket-sized or desk-ready and aware of your surroundings, per a Wall Street Journal report.
Altman stated in court:
“Our intent with this collaboration was, and is, to create products that go beyond traditional products and interfaces.”
OpenAI’s legal filings say it’s exploring a broad range: desktop, mobile, wired, wireless, wearable, portable.
Meanwhile, iyO invited io execs to test its in-ear tech but those tests failed repeatedly. io declined iyO’s offers to partner, invest, or buy iyO outright for $200 million. OpenAI and io also considered buying 3D ear scans from an iyO partner to help with design, but it’s unclear if that happened.
io’s chief product officer Evans Hankey confirmed io is not working on a custom earpiece product.
So, OpenAI’s AI hardware could be something entirely different—and it’s still months away.
The drama exposes how close OpenAI and io got to the wearables space, but for now, their first device could look nothing like conventional earbuds. The AI hardware race is just heating up.
