OpenAI’s first Jony Ive device sounds like HomePod 2.0: report

Source: 9to5Mac

A new report from The Information details OpenAI’s hardware ambitions and reveals that the first Jony Ive‑designed device expected to launch is a smart speaker.

Smart speaker will be first OpenAI product to launch, per report

OpenAI is working with Jony Ive to produce its first line of hardware products, with a launch expected early next year.

Per the report, the first Ive‑OpenAI collaboration could be a smart speaker—essentially a HomePod 2.0 for Ive.

Stephanie Palazzolo and Qianer Liu write at The Information:

The smart speaker—the first device OpenAI will release—is likely to be priced between $200 and $300, according to two people with knowledge of it. The speaker will have a camera, enabling it to take in information about its users and their surroundings, such as items on a nearby table or conversations people are having in the vicinity. It will also allow people to buy things by identifying them with a facial‑recognition feature similar to Apple’s Face ID.

The report mentions two other products in active development: smart glasses and a smart lamp.

Beyond the trio of devices, Palazzolo and Liu also offer fresh insights into the collaboration between Ive, LoveFrom, and OpenAI.

Ive’s involvement with OpenAI is complicated. He still runs his design firm, LoveFrom, as an entity independent of OpenAI, even though LoveFrom is in charge of conceiving potential OpenAI device designs. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s internal devices team handles the hardware, the software powering it, and understanding how consumers will use the device.

That division of responsibilities has sparked tensions. Some OpenAI staff have complained that LoveFrom has been slow to revise its designs and shares little about its process, even with others working on devices within OpenAI.

Additionally, there have been complications integrating Io members with OpenAI’s existing hardware team following the Io acquisition.

With Apple developing a trio of AI wearables plus new HomePod‑related products, it will be interesting to see how the competition between the two companies pans out.

Are you interested in getting an OpenAI smart speaker with a camera? Let us know in the comments.