OpenAI isn’t just trying to be the best AI model company anymore. It’s trying to become a device company—the kind that ships physical products designed around AI-first interaction, not “apps on a phone.”
According to a report, OpenAI has more than 200 people working on a family of AI-powered consumer devices that will include a smart speaker (expected to be first), and potentially smart glasses and even a smart lamp.
This is a big directional shift: OpenAI moving from “the brain in the cloud” to “the AI you live with.”
The first device: a smart speaker with a camera
The reported flagship is a smart speaker priced in the $200–$300 range. The eye-catching detail: it’s expected to include a camera designed to help the device understand the user and their environment—suggesting a more context-aware assistant than today’s voice speakers.
But don’t expect it soon. The report says the speaker won’t be available before early 2027.
That timeline matters. It signals OpenAI is treating this as a serious product line—not a quick experiment—and likely planning for custom hardware, privacy design, supply-chain work, and a full consumer rollout.
The longer game: smart glasses and ambient devices
Beyond the speaker, OpenAI is reportedly exploring:
- Smart glasses (with mass production not expected until 2028)
- A smart lamp concept
Whether all of these ship is unknown, but the pattern is clear: OpenAI is looking at ambient AI—devices that don’t feel like “using an app,” but like the assistant is present in the background, ready to help.
Why OpenAI is doing this: “AI-first” needs “hardware-first”
There’s a strategic logic to building devices:
1) Control the experience
On phones, assistants are still constrained by app boundaries, OS permissions, and competing default services. A device gives OpenAI full control over wake words, sensors, context, and interaction design.
2) Build habits, not just sessions
A speaker or wearable can turn AI into a daily routine—home life, reminders, shopping, planning, media—rather than something you open only when you need a task done.
3) Lock in distribution
The biggest platform shift wins often come from owning the “front door.” If AI is becoming a new interface layer, OpenAI wants hardware that makes ChatGPT (or its successor) the default.
The Jony Ive connection makes the move feel real
This hardware push follows OpenAI’s acquisition of io Products, a hardware company founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive—a sign OpenAI wants devices that feel premium, simple, and “inevitable,” not clunky tech prototypes.
That’s important because AI gadgets have a recent graveyard: flashy promises, awkward ergonomics, privacy backlash, and unclear use cases. OpenAI is betting that better design + better models can finally make AI hardware stick.
The hardest problem: trust
A speaker with a camera instantly raises the most sensitive question in consumer tech:
Where does the data go, and who controls it?
If OpenAI wants this category to work, it will need:
- crystal-clear privacy controls
- transparent on-device vs. cloud processing choices
- obvious indicators for recording and camera use
- user trust that “context-aware” doesn’t become “always watching”
This is the hill every AI hardware company has to climb.
What to watch next
If this is OpenAI’s real next chapter, the early signals will likely be:
- hiring sprees in hardware, supply chain, and privacy/security engineering
- partnerships for manufacturing and components
- more explicit hints about what “camera-based context” actually means
- whether the product is positioned as a home hub, a personal companion, or a new category entirely
Bottom line
OpenAI building consumer devices is a statement: AI isn’t just a feature anymore — it’s becoming a platform. And platforms don’t want to live inside someone else’s hardware forever.
If the smart speaker lands in 2027 as expected, it won’t just be “another Alexa competitor.” It’ll be OpenAI’s attempt to define what the first truly AI-native household device feels like.
