OpenAI will make its first device a portable, screen-free smart speaker priced near $200 to $300 and pitched as a humanlike AI companion, people familiar with the plans say.
Key Points:
- OpenAI's debut hardware is a screen-free, movable smart speaker meant to serve as an in-home AI companion.
- The device carries a camera, sensors and a rechargeable battery, and it runs an advanced ChatGPT voice mode.
- A reported $200 to $300 price and a fresh Apple lawsuit now shape the launch plans.
OpenAI Speaker Ditches The Screen
The device will control smart-home appliances, play media, answer questions and respond to messages, according to people who described the still-secret project.
It leans on OpenAI's ChatGPT to do the work. Mechanical parts move on their own, so the machine reads less like a gadget and more like a presence.
A camera and other sensors let the speaker read its surroundings and grow more personal as it learns its owner. A rechargeable battery lets it travel from room to room.
Its voice leans on GPT-Live, an upgraded ChatGPT mode that OpenAI rolled out this month, and it can listen and talk at once. Reporting pegs the price between $200 and $300, and the company aims to show the speaker this year before a 2027 release. OpenAI casts it as a home computer for the AI era, not just another speaker.
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Apple Lawsuit Shadows OpenAI Push
Apple sued OpenAI last week over alleged theft of trade secrets, and framed the claims as the tip of a wider problem.
OpenAI denies wrongdoing, says it sees no evidence behind the complaint, and stays on course for an initial public offering expected within months.
The plan rattled rivals. Shares of speaker maker Sonos slid more than 10% in late trading before paring the drop. Apple eased less than 1%.
Skeptics doubt a late entrant can unseat devices that have run homes since 2014, when Amazon shipped the first Echo. Google Nest and Apple's HomePod already cover voice, media and smart-home control, and the camera stirs privacy worry because it watches a room rather than waiting for a wake word.
OpenAI stepped into hardware in 2025 with the roughly $6.5 billion purchase of io Products, co-founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive.
The team now spans engineers who built the iPhone and Mac. It plans about five devices, with the speaker first in line.
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