OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed to Nikkei Asia that the company is collaborating with former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive to develop the new device.
OpenAI’s Bold Vision: A New AI Device to Challenge Smartphones

OpenAI, the artificial intelligence powerhouse, is reportedly developing a groundbreaking AI-driven hardware device that could potentially replace smartphones, according to Nikkei Asia.

CEO Sam Altman confirmed that OpenAI is collaborating with Jony Ive, Apple’s former chief design officer, to bring this vision to life. Reports from last year suggested that this partnership aims to create a device leveraging generative AI to enhance user interactions beyond the capabilities of traditional software.

A New York Times report also highlighted that this new device is expected to be less socially disruptive than the iPhone. Altman hinted at these developments in a May 2024 podcast, discussing the feasibility of running large language models (LLMs) on mobile devices and whether affordability would be a factor. However, he downplayed the need for a cheaper alternative, stating,

“Almost everyone’s willing to pay for a phone anyway. Even if a cheaper device could be made, the barrier to carrying or using a second device is pretty high.”

Altman’s interest in AI-powered hardware isn’t new. He previously invested $30 million in Humane Inc., a startup founded by ex-Apple employees Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, which aimed to integrate generative AI into hardware products.

However, early AI hardware attempts, such as the Humane AI Pin and the Rabbit R1, failed to impress. Critics, including Engadget, described the Rabbit R1 as “a $199 AI toy that fails at almost everything.”

While OpenAI is pursuing new hardware, big tech companies are primarily enhancing AI features on existing smartphones. Google, for instance, has integrated generative AI capabilities into its Pixel lineup, while OpenAI recently partnered with Apple to bring ChatGPT to iPhones via Apple Intelligence.

Meanwhile, OpenAI also introduced o3-mini, a cost-efficient AI model optimized for improved reasoning and STEM-related tasks, now available in ChatGPT and the API, replacing o1-mini in the model selection.

As OpenAI continues to push boundaries, the tech world is eager to see whether this new AI-powered device will redefine the way we interact with technology—or struggle like its predecessors.