OpenAI's ChatGPT speaker will be hockey puck-sized, screenless, and cost over $300

[Odd Voyager]

Details are emerging about OpenAIs long rumored hardware device, and according to Bloomberg its shaping up to be a hockey puck sized, doughnut shaped smart speaker with no display at all, priced somewhere between 300 and 400 dollars, designed by former Apple design chief Jony Ive

The device is genuinely built around portability and personality rather than trying to compete on screen based functionality, its meant to be easy to carry around with one hand, battery powered so it can move between rooms, and made from a premium metal material, Bloomberg reports it will feature moving parts specifically meant to give it personality, showing visually when its responding, while lights indicate when its actively listening, theres also a camera system and sensors feeding the device information about the users physical environment

The AI experience itself is centered on voice, speaker grilles and microphones enable conversations with ChatGPT that are described as feeling more human like, with the model designed to learn more about the user over time rather than treating every interaction as a blank slate, this fits into OpenAIs broader recent push on voice, following the GPT-Live announcement in July that was specifically meant to make ChatGPT voice conversations feel more natural, including live acknowledgment sounds like mhmm while listening

This hardware push comes directly in the middle of Apples ongoing trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI, and the timing and framing here genuinely matter, Apple has claimed OpenAI misled an Apple supplier into developing a metal finishing technique similar to Apples own, and separately Bloomberg specifically describes this portable speaker as not something Apple has come close to launching, a detail that conveniently supports OpenAIs public claim it has no interest in and hasnt used any of Apples actual trade secrets, OpenAI reiterated that same day that it is building something entirely new and different from anything at Apple

Ive was brought into this project after OpenAI acquired his device startup io last year, bringing several former Apple hardware design team members along with him, OpenAI hasnt paused development and is reportedly hoping to formally introduce the device later this year ahead of an actual 2027 launch, meanwhile Apple is separately working on its own home hub product, expected as soon as this year, though that device has a display and a more conventional square form factor, plus a tabletop robot with a motorized arm thats not expected until 2027 at the earliest, giving Apple its own screen based and more traditionally functional answer to whatever OpenAI ultimately ships

OpenAI's ChatGPT Speaker Will Be Hockey Puck-Sized and Cost Over $300www.macrumors.com