OpenAI’s first hardware release will be a smart speaker with a camera that will probably cost between $200 and $300, according to The Information. The device will be able to recognize things like “items on a nearby table or conversations people are having in the vicinity,” The Information says, and it will have a Face ID-like facial recognition system so that people can purchase things.
OpenAI acquired Jony Ive’s hardware company last May in a deal worth nearly $6.5 billion. Details about their hardware products have been trickling out since then, including that the first device won’t be a wearable and that it won’t be released to customers earlier than March 2027. Other hardware companies are making a big push into AI gadgets, too — including Apple, Ive’s former employer, which is reportedly making its own smart glasses, an AI-powered pendant, and AirPods with cameras.
In addition to the smart speaker, OpenAI is “possibly” working on smart glasses and a smart lamp, The Information reports. (Apple may also be working on a smart lamp.) But OpenAI’s glasses might not hit mass production until 2028, and while OpenAI has made prototypes of gadgets like the smart lamp, The Information says it’s “unclear” if they’ll be released and that OpenAI’s devices plans are in early stages.
