ChatGPT’s first hardware may look familiar

When news broke that legendary Apple designer John Ive was partnering with OpenAI on the first hardware designed for ChatGPT, imaginations ran wild.

What could be the first ChatGPT hardware? Nothing with a screen, insiders said (Ive and ChatGPT founder Sam Altman have remained mostly mum on the subject.) Perhaps more of a “pebble” that would fit in your pocket, a “third core” device that would be “context-aware” of its surroundings.

Indeed, reports from a leaked OpenAI conference call detailed Altman calling the device “the coolest piece of technology the world has ever seen,” while Ive called the upcoming ChatGPT hardware the start of a “new design movement.”

Well, a revolutionary ChatGPT hardware device may still be in the works, but a new report indicates that one of the first ChatGPT devices will be much more familiar: a simple smart speaker.

The speaker, which may not arrive until February 2027, would come with a camera and cost between $200 and $300, according to the Information and its anonymous sources.

Other OpenAI hardware in the works includes smart glasses and, perhaps, a smart lamp, the report said, with the glasses not expected to come to market until 2028 or later.

OpenAI has yet to comment on The Information’s story, and like any report from anonymous industry sources, it should be taken with a grain of salt.

But if we are just getting a glorified Echo speaker, powered by ChatGPT, as the first OpenAI product will be a real disappointment. I already have an AI-powered smart display in my kitchen — the Google Nest Hub Max with Gemini inside — and it generally stays there, displaying family photos, while the Alexa+-enabled Echo Dot in my office generally stays silent.

Personally, I haven’t found many inspiring uses of AI in a smart speaker, and the same goes for ChatGPT and Gemini Live’s voice mode on a phone; conversations tend to be stilted, hesitant, or downright awkward. ChatGPT did a lot for me on a desktop, but on a smart speaker? I’m not so sure.

The ChatGPT smart glasses are rumored to be a bit closer to the vision of an on-body device that gathers information about your surroundings, but OpenAI is reportedly heading into well-explored territory (hello Meta and maybe even Apple).

A ChatGPT smart lamp? It’s a bit more original, and we’ve seen similar smart lights with built-in smart speakers before.

Personally, I will wait for the ChatGPT pebble.