OpenAI is working on three products
According to the report (subscription required), OpenAI is actually working on three different products. The one that has been talked about the most recently is going to be a smart speaker with a camera and a microphone. This speaker will reportedly be priced between $200-300 and won’t launch until at least early next year.The device has previously been described as being portable, but it will also seemingly function as a smart home device. Functionality includes proactive suggestions for users as well as answering queries.
A smart lamp and smart glasses
In addition to this smart speaker, OpenAI is apparently working on a smart lamp as well. There’s not much detail available for the smart lamp just yet, though it will probably also function like a smart home device or hub.
Unsurprisingly, OpenAI is also working on a pair of smart glasses, joining the likes of Meta, Apple, Google, and Samsung amidst others. If AR smart glasses really are the future of the smartphone, then OpenAI doesn’t want to miss out on that. Also, smart glasses would solve the lack of screens on the speaker and lamp.
Both the speaker and the glasses aren’t expected to hit shelves until at least sometime in 2028.
I’m not sold just yet
Sam Altman has talked up OpenAI’s upcoming product a lot, but I’ll have to see it to know if it’s worth the hype. As it stands now, I think that this smart speaker might be a fun gimmick, but hardly anything to write home about.All of the AI-powered devices and services we see marketed nowadays promise the same handful of features. Proactive suggestions, awareness of a user’s surroundings, and the ability to answer queries. The thing is, I can just pull out my phone and Google a question that I might have. And, frankly speaking, AI still often makes a ton of mistakes when responding to simple requests.The smart glasses sound cool, though. With so many major companies working on glasses of their own, I’m very interested to see how the smart glasses market shapes up compared to the smartphone industry, which has a lot of Chinese manufacturers that most Western consumers don’t touch.
