By: Nick Gambino
Back in May we first heard that OpenAI was working on a ChatGPT device, and now a few more details are starting to trickle out.
The whole thing started when OpenAI bought Jony Ive’s AI startup io for a casual $6.5 billion. Ive, of course, is the guy behind the iPhone, so expectations instantly went through the roof. They announced an AI-first device built around ChatGPT, but at the time it was anyone’s guess what that even meant.
In June, some legal filings gave us a tiny bit more to chew on. The documents made it clear this gadget is not a wearable, not headphones, and not an in-ear device. So basically, it is none of the things we thought it might be. Oh, and it is not expected until 2026, which feels like forever in tech years.
Fast forward to last week when OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had dinner with a bunch of journalists. In between bites, he joked that the device would be so beautiful that if anyone slapped a protective case on it, he would “personally hunt you down.” That is cute coming from a billionaire who does not flinch at the thought of dropping a thousand-dollar phone. The rest of us, also known as people who live in the real world, will absolutely be buying cases for this thing the second it ships.
What we do know is that the device is supposed to work with your existing phone, laptop or desktop. That makes it sound like some kind of companion gadget, sort of like the early Apple Watch, but without being something you wear. Honestly, right now it is one big guessing game.
What is clear is that OpenAI wants to be more than just the company that drops a new AI model every year or two. Besides this ChatGPT device, they are cooking up a web browser to take on Google and even floating the idea of a social media app. And because the world definitely needs another social media platform, right?
