Thanks to new court documents, we now know more about the secretive device OpenAI is working on with Jony Ive, the man behind the iPhone’s design.
Tang Tan, the cofounder and hardware chief of Ive’s io, revealed new details about the AI-powered device in legal filings submitted for a trademark lawsuit.
“Its design is not yet finalized, but it is not an in-ear device, nor a wearable device,” Tan said.
The mystery device has been the subject of widespread speculation throughout the tech industry and beyond. Some guesses include a companion device for smartphones or computers, something wearable or screenless, and a minimalist gadget the size of an iPod.
Tan scratched one of those off the list with his wearable remark in the trademark infringement lawsuit filed by iyO, a startup out of Google’s moonshot factory, X. The plaintiff is working on an earpiece that connects to other devices.
Over the past month, OpenAI’s cofounder Sam Altman has dropped clues about the mystery hardware’s form. He’s made it clear that it’s not a smartphone or smart glasses and has described it as a companion.
Altman told his brother Jack Altman on the “Uncapped” podcast last week that it should feel like a thing that helps you “get done whatever you want to get done.” It will go beyond the “constraints” of computers and smartphones that aren’t powered by AI, he said.
“We don’t quite have a word for it. ‘My AI companion’ is the best I can do right now,” Altman said.
In May, Altman and Ive said that OpenAI had bought io for $6.5 billion. Ive’s design firm, LoveFrom, had worked with Altman for two years before the io purchase.
The timeline for production and distribution of this device is still unknown, but Tan said in the documents that there are no plans to advertise or sell it “for at least a year.”
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Business Insider.
