OpenAI is Reportedly Working on AI-Powered Mobile Smart Speaker

If Apple’s lawsuit alleging trade-secret theft may well impact OpenAI’s product development pipeline, a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman revealed what could be the AI startup’s first-ever hardware product. Instead of trying to compete with the iPhone and other smartphone makers, the ChatGPT developer is reportedly working on a mobile smart speaker that could serve as a “humanlike AI companion.”

Unlike existing smart home speakers from Apple, Amazon, and Google, OpenAI’s smart speaker will be battery-powered, allowing users to easily move it around the house. The device is also expected to have a camera to understand its surroundings, as well as “mechanical elements that can move on their own, creating a sense that it is alive and not just an object responding to commands,” Gurman reported. However, the smart speaker is expected to lack a built-in display.

“It will help control smart-home appliances, play media, answer questions, respond to messages and tap into the range of capabilities offered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT,” Gurman reported. “OpenAI believes the product’s defining feature will be its personality and ability to connect on a humanlike level with users,” the reporter added.

There’s probably room for disruption in the smart speaker market as the current offerings from Apple, Amazon, and Google are quite lackluster. Amazon’s next-gen Alexa+ subscription is still a work in progress, and it requires an Amazon Prime or standalone subscription to be enabled. Google’s new Gemini for Home assistant is free, but some of its features, such as the Gemini Live free-flowing conversations, require a paid Google Home subscription.

As for Apple, well, its new Siri AI isn’t available on its HomePod speakers yet. In the meantime, Jony Ive, Apple’s former Chief Design Officer, is now working at OpenAI to help the AI startup develop its first hardware products. And according to Apple’s lawsuit, OpenAI hired more than 400 Apple employees in recent months. Evans Hankey, Apple’s former head of industrial design, is now overseeing the development of the speaker and other hardware from OpenAI, Gurman also reported.

According to Gurman, OpenAI may unveil its mobile smart speaker before the end of the year, and a 2027 release could be on the cards. However, Apple’s lawsuit may well push the AI startup to change its plans.