OpenAI is planning to launch a smart speaker designed by Apple legend Jony Ive that sounds a little like a HomePod, according to a new report.
The Information is claiming the scoop here, and says it’ll be the first product yielding from the Ive and OpenAI hook-up (remember that creepy-awkward photo with Sam Altman a few months back?). Today’s report brings word from “two people with knowledge” will include a camera to identify the owner and the owner’s surroundings and will listen into the conversations in the background. As if that’s not entirely unsettling.
Presumably you’ll be able to interact with ChatGPT though live conversation and, heck, maybe even listen to some music too when the device reportedly arrives in 2027.
The report says:
“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, according to one of the people. It will also allow people to buy things by identifying them with a facial recognition feature similar to Apple’s Face ID, the people said.”
According to the sources, this is just one of the three products on the agenda from the OpenAI and Jony Ive partnership. The others being smart glasses and the other being a smart lamp.
The designs are being handled by Ive’s LoveFrom company which the Knight of the Realm set-up after leaving Apple. The Londoner pioneered the design of some of Apple’s most legendary products, which he then explained in a very softly and slowly spoken manner during Apple’s keynote addresses.
But is there trouble in paradise already? Today’s report, which all but confirms the story came from the OpenAI side of things, adds: “That division of responsibilities has sparked tensions. Some OpenAI staffers have complained that LoveFrom has been slow to revise its designs and shares little about its process of coming up with new ones, even with others working on devices within OpenAI.”
