After feeling like the era of Teal Lee Freeding in the tech industry, Openai officially snapped “IO.” This is a much-neutral Buzz Bay startup that builds AI devices from former Apple Design Guru Jony Ive and Openai chief Sam Altman. price tag? $6.5 billion.
Openai came out this week with a video talking in a general way about Ive and Altman’s ventures, but now some information about what they’re actually cooking has slipped off.
And what are they planning with all of that cash and brain power? Well, the people at the Eagle Eyed of the Washington Post discovered an internal chat between Sam Altman and Openry staff, targeting them to ship 100 million AI “friends.”
Altman is even said to have told the team that Openai devices “is the chance to do the biggest thing they’ve ever done as a company here.”
To be clear, Altman set the 100 million or so final targets. “We’re not going to ship literally 100 million devices on the first day,” he said. But then, with Flex, pure Silicon Valley, he added that he would hit the 100 million mark, “faster than previously shipped 100 million new ones.”
So, what is this mysterious “friend”? Gadgets are designed to fully recognize the user’s surroundings and even “life.” They’ve mostly talked about a single device, but Altman might make it more like a “family of devices.”
Jony Ive was, as expected, called the “new design movement.” You can almost hear the minimalist manifesto being drafted.
Why is there a full-scale acquisition? Were they not just going to be partners? Originally, yes. The plan was for IVE startups to cook and sell their hardware, and Openai provided the brain. But that seems to have grown in vision. This is more than just another accessory.
Altman emphasized that the device will be “a central aspect of using Openai.” He said, “We were both excited by the idea that if we subscribe to ChatGpt, we would just have to mail new computers and use them.”
Frankly, they believe our current technology – our trusty laptops, the websites we browse – isn’t necessarily perfect for the AI experiences they dream of. Altman has been rather dull, saying that the current use of AI is “not a sci-fi dream of what you can do to enable you in any way the model thinks it can.”
So we know it’s not a smartphone. Altman also put Kibosch on his glasses. And Johnny Eve, well, he clearly doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to make another wearable that makes sense given the spirit of his design.
The good news of the impatience between us (i.e., everyone in high tech) is that this is not just a Vapourware. Ive’s team has a real prototype. Altman went home to “Live With It.” When might I get it? Altman is reportedly aiming for a release in the second half of 2026.
Naturally, Openai wraps real devices, but you can always expect supply chain whispers about some clues. Ming-Chi Kuo, analyst at the highly reliable (usually, normally!) Apple Supply chain, threw some suspicious design details into the ring via social media.
Kuo thinks it’s “slightly bigger” than the humanitarian AI pin, but it looks “as compact and elegant as an iPod shuffle.” And yes, like shuffle, kuo says there is no screen.
According to Kuo, the device instead chats with a mobile phone or computer, using a good old microphone to use audio and cameras to see what’s going on around it. Interestingly, he suggests that it is worn around the neckline style, rather than being cut out like an AI pin.
Kuo’s crystal ball refers to mass production in 2027, but he wisely adds a pinch of salt and notes that the final look and feel could still change.
So the billion dollar (well, £5.1 billion) question remains: is this Openai device the next big thing, and the game changer we’ve been waiting for? Or will you be free from the iron grips on your smartphone and be another noble and rewarding attempt, joining in something like AI Pin and joining in “a great idea that never made it at all”?
Altman is one full of confidence. Living with the prototype, he has been documented saying that he believes it will become “the coolest technology the world has ever seen.”
See: Linux Foundation: Slash Costs to Drive Growth with Open Source AI
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