Details emerge of Jony Ive’s ambitious OpenAI device. In a shock that reverberated throughout Silicon Valley and beyond, OpenAI has announced a $6.5 billion acquisition of “io,” the AI hardware startup with co-founders renowned designer Jony Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
This is not just a headline—it is the beginning of something much bigger. Following several safe years developing software, OpenAI is making its first move into hardware territory, and not just into hardware, but into building a new type of device—a category never seen before and something that Altman called the “biggest thing we have ever done.”
Let’s examine just how big of a deal this is, what this AI “companion” could be, and why it could actually change how we engage with technology.
🚨Details emerge of Jony Ive‘s ambitious OpenAI device
🧠 The Dream: A Personalized AI that’s Always with You
Let’s get to the essentials. What is this device?
According to internal OpenAI sources and leaks, the device that OpenAI and Ive are building is not just a gadget, but a personal AI companion – an ambient, ever-present assistant who knows where you are, what you do, your surroundings, your behaviors, and even your emotional states.
Altman is reported to have told OpenAI employees in an internal chat revealed by The Washington Post that ultimately, OpenAI intends to ship 100 million of these AI devices.
For context, a handful of tech products have ever shipped 100 million units, maybe the iPhone. And Altman believes OpenAI will do it sooner than any other company.
Altman said, “We’re not going to ship 100 million devices literally on day one …. At some point, we will get there faster than any company has ever shipped 100 million of something new, period.”
This isn’t just a product. It’s a moonshot. The re-imagining of how you interact with AI, not just through screens and apps, but through presence. Through something that feels like it will be there, quietly working at your side.
💡 A Device That Is Not a Smartphone, Not a Wearable – but Something Entirely Different
One of the fun things about this story? We have NO idea what the final device will look like – but we have some hints.
What we do know is that IT IS NOT a smartphone! Altman has ruled that out. It is not smart glasses, either. And according to Jony Ive — the designer of the iPhone, iMac, and the iPod design icons — he didn’t want to repeat the shortsightedness of the wearables market.
So, what is it?
As for what the device will be, we could not be more excited about Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a track record for hardware leaks that is scary good, has said the device will be:
- A bit bigger than the Humane AI Pin
- Minimalist and screenless, and shaped like a modern iPod Shuffle
- Loaded with microphones and cameras
- To wear around your neck like a necklace
- Instructions for your phone and computer, not to replace them
You won’t be tapping on a screen, swiping through apps, or squinting at pixels. You’re going to talk — and it will see, hear, and understand.
This is ambient computing — A.I. that is so deeply embedded in your life that it disappears, working behind the scenes to create smarter, smoother, and more human experiences.
🔄 Why Did OpenAI Buy the Whole Company, and Not Just Partner?
OK, this is where it gets even better.
The basic plan was simple. Jony Ive’s startup would make the hardware, and OpenAI would bring the intelligence. A partnership. A handshake deal.
But as ideas shifted and prototypes got more exciting, the partnership started to feel restrictive, given how ambitious the vision was. So OpenAI decided not to partner — they decided to own it.
This is why they bought IO for $6.5 billion — not just to bolt on A.I. to some nice hardware, but to have control of the entire experience, from silicon to software to interface to voice.
“If you subscribe to ChatGPT,” Altman said, “We should just send you new computers — and you should use them.”
That’s not a metaphor, that’s a literal goal. A future where ChatGPT isn’t accessed through Chrome or an app on a phone, where ChatGPT is part of your outfit, like a trustworthy digital sidekick.
OpenAI doesn’t wish to just be the brain behind your query’s output. They want to be the AI platform you live with.
🧬 Jony Ive: The Master of Form Meets the Future of Function
You really can’t talk about this without marveling in the return of Sir Jony Ive.
Sir Jony, who helped introduce the world to the iPhone, MacBook Air, and the Apple Watch, has been pretty quiet ever since he left Apple in 2019. He’s back and he’s targeting AI.
It appears, according to the news, that he even called the project “a new design movement.” And this is not hype, this is an indication that “this is not just another gadget”; this is a new design ethos combining physical presence, invisible technology, and emotional intelligence.
It seems he has spent almost a year improving upon the prototype – a device that is not a gadget, it has the appearance of a tech artifact, destined to become a part of your daily life.
Altman certainly seems enamored. He’s already living with the prototype and using it out in the world. And from his early reports, he’s been telling people:
“This will be the coolest piece of technology the world has ever seen.”
That’s saying something. But coming from the man who ushered in the ChatGPT era? Maybe it’s not so crazy to think that.
⏳ When Will We See It?
While a working prototype is already being used, a public release is not imminent.
The current target: late 2026, with mass production likely starting in 2027, according to Kuo.
That may seem like a long time to wait, but in the world of next-gen computing, that’s quite fast. Especially when you think that Apple, Google, and Meta took years to build their AR and wearable platforms.
And unlike many speculative hardware moonshots (looking at you, Magic Leap), this project is backed by funding, talent, and proven AI leadership.
This isn’t a gamble. This is a calculated move by one of the most powerful AI companies in the world.
🧨 Will It Succeed — or Enter the Tech Graveyard?
Let’s face it: the graveyard of “smart” hardware is overwhelming.
- Google Glass: expired.
- Amazon Alexa devices: delightful, but dormant.
- Humane AI Pin: ambitious but unhinged.
So we arrive at the million-dollar question: can OpenAI succeed where others failed?
The answer might come down to one thing: timing.
Up until now, all of the “smart” devices have been trying to accomplish everything with the smallest amount of intelligence. OpenAI is introducing this device at a time when its GPT models are relatively interesting, speaking, and evolving very quickly.
This time it’s not simply AI. It’s Jony Ive’s design, underpinning billions in Research & Development, and built from the ground up to do one thing very well: to be your intelligent companion.
🔮 Final Thoughts: Is This the Future of AI?
This purchase is not just a purchase. It is a manifesto.
OpenAI does not want to be the ‘software layer’ in this AI revolution; it wants to control the interface – and in turn, to shape what AI looks like, feels like, and lives like in the material world.
This $6.5 billion bet could potentially bring together Sam Altman’s vision, Jony Ive’s design magic, and GPT platform intelligence, and become one of the most important bets of the decade.
So, get ready. The next big thing in tech may not be in your pocket, it may be around your neck, softly sharing insights, capturing your world, and growing quietly into your most trusted digital companion.
And if Altman is correct?
The AI device of the future will not just change how we use technology; it will change what technology is.