OpenAI is planning to launch a doughnut-shaped, screenless smart speaker priced between $300 and $400 in 2027. Developed in collaboration with Jony Ive’s LoveFrom studio, the battery-powered AI companion will feature moving mechanical parts, cameras, and advanced conversational models designed to serve as the physical manifestation of ChatGPT.
The generative AI company is preparing to enter consumer hardware with a high-end device that breaks sharply from traditional smart speakers offered by competitors like Google, Apple, and Amazon. Rather than a stationary home hub meant for checking the weather, OpenAI views the upcoming hardware as a direct smartphone replacement and the foundation of a broader device ecosystem, according to reporting from Bloomberg.
Design, Mechanics, and the Hardware Pivot
The device will feature a ring-shaped form factor roughly the size of a hockey puck, constructed from high-quality metal with a premium finish. Because it is battery-powered, users can easily pick it up and carry it around the house and place it in different locations with ease.
To set the hardware apart from existing market offerings, the device will incorporate independent moving parts and built-in lights that will illuminate when it’s listening. These physical components animate when the speaker responds to user prompts, a design choice intended to make the product more lifelike and engaging than today’s stationary speaker products.
While the gadget lacks a display screen, it will feature a camera system and other sensors to monitor the environment and provide visual information to the AI. The device will work similarly to the ChatGPT voice mode on mobile apps but with more advanced models for humanlike interactivity, and it will be able to control smart home devices too. OpenAI is viewing the smart speaker in the steps of other smart speakers lately in pushing an AI-first focus aimed at helping people complete tasks, using personal data for proactive responses.
Pricing Strategy and the Partnership
The hardware push follows OpenAI acquiring Jony Ive-helmed startup io to spark this hardware pivot, with the project created in cooperation with design-studio LoveFrom, founded by former chief designer Apple Jony Ive.
That high-profile collaboration commands a matching price tag. Internal discussions have centered on retail prices ranging from $300 to $400, which is people familiar with the matter
told Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, representing an ambitiously high price for the AI-powered hardware pivot that is notably more than most other smart speakers on the market, even high-end ones. OpenAI has declined to comment on its product roadmap.
Ecosystem Ambitions and Legal Headwinds
The smart speaker represents just the opening salvo in a broader hardware strategy. OpenAI is working approximately on five consumer AI devices that have to form a separate hardware ecosystem around ChatGPT, as told by OpenAI president Greg Brockman. Brockman stated that the debut product will be just the first in a series of devices meant to rethink how people interact with technology, though the company is not yet ready to disclose details of its construction and capabilities. The shared foundation of the devices is meant to be ChatGPT, with OpenAI wanting to gradually get rid of complex menus, model switches, and other visible controls, and potentially allowing OpenAI to integrate the assistant more deeply with cameras, microphones, and other sensors while depending less on iOS and Android restrictions, though the company has not yet explained how the devices will interact with each other. Among other possible devices mentioned were smart glasses, a lamp, a digital voice recorder, a wearable gadget, and a mobile AI.
However, the hardware roadmap faces legal obstacles. OpenAI has already run into legal disputes, with Apple accusing the company of misappropriating trade secrets, although OpenAI rejects these allegations.
With a projected debut slated for 2027, market analysts note that demand for smart speakers has been growing slowly in recent years, and the high price of the new gadget may complicate its success, alongside the fact that OpenAI has already faced legal disputes.
