This has been a busy week for OpenAI, Sam Altman, and Jony Ive. After all, the AI firm had to take down its page about io, Altman and Ive’s company that is currently developing a device that could mark the biggest product release in the industry since the iPhone in 2007.
While some people assumed that the partnership was already over, it was actually a trademark issue that forced OpenAI take down the page on its site:
This page is temporarily down due to a court order following a trademark complaint from iyO about our use of the name ‘io.’ We don’t agree with the complaint and are reviewing our options.
Then, a court filing from OpenAI revealed more details about this mysterious new product, which has previously been called a non-smartphone, and now a “non-wearable.” As detailed by my colleague Chris Smith, this device is “at least a year away” from being released, and it won’t be an in-ear device like the one iyO is taking preorders for.
It seems likely that analyst Ming-Chi Kuo was right. In May, he reported that the “current prototype is slightly larger than the AI Pin, with a form factor as compact and elegant as an iPod Shuffle. The design and specifications may change before mass production.”
Some suggest it could also be worn around the neck or placed on the desk in the office. Still, I don’t think the success of this product will rely on its form factor, and this is why I don’t think Jony Ive’s name alone will be enough to make OpenAI’s first hardware succeed. As a matter of fact, it’s the software that will make it thrive.
OpenAI can succeed where Humane failed
Every time a new report mentions the kind of product OpenAI is developing, I can’t help but think about Humane’s AI Pin. At the time, I was among those who didn’t believe in the technology and didn’t see a reason for the product to exist. A year later, I would say the main issue with it was that the technology wasn’t there yet.
This is why I think OpenAI has a great chance of succeeding. For the tasks this AI companion is expected to perform, it needs better LLMs, reasoning capability, and usability.
Bear with me: We’ve seen AI usage grow exponentially. While Apple recently published a very interesting paper about AI models not being able to reason, it doesn’t mean they can’t be useful. From training for a marathon, understanding how to use a washing machine in a different language, or quickly recording, transcribing, and summarizing a meeting, AI can do a lot to make our lives easier.
I also really like how Google, OpenAI, and Opera have been approaching AI. The AI companion should do things alongside you, such as Google’s AI shopping mode, OpenAI’s onscreen awareness in iOS 26, and Opera’s Operator browser to help you complete tasks.
That said, even if OpenAI’s new AI product looks like a futuristic iPod shuffle or an AI Pin, it will still have more than a few key differentiators, including improved intelligence, more capable AI models, and the example of others who failed first.
