(Credit: OpenAI)
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Earlier this year, ChatGPT maker OpenAI acquired former Apple designer Jony Ive's latest company and announced plans to develop an AI-focused hardware project. Now, a new report suggests that the project is working through some technical challenges.
Citing anonymous sources, the Financial Times reports that the first-generation device will be similar in size to a smartphone, but it won't feature a screen. It's expected to be able to take both audio and visual information from its environment through a camera and microphone, with some sources claiming there may be more than one camera.
It’s likely to be an always-on device you carry and place nearby, rather than a wearable like the Plaud Note AI pin. However, the project is reportedly struggling to determine how to teach its AI to recognize when it should intervene in a conversation. One source tells the FT that OpenAI was also focusing on developing a "personality" for the device that "isn’t your weird AI girlfriend."
Elsewhere in the report, sources say all of these problems are a normal part of the development process. It's rumored the project is targeting a late 2026 or early 2027 release date.
So far, the brand has kept its project's details secret, fearing that competitors may copy its plans. The Wall Street Journal reported in May that Altman told the company's employees they had "the chance to do the biggest thing we’ve ever done as a company."
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.