OpenAI Plans Moving, Screenless AI Smart Speaker for First Hardware Release

OpenAI is developing its first physical consumer device, which takes the form of a portable, screenless smart speaker designed to act as an interactive home assistant.

The product relies on built-in cameras, environmental sensors, and mechanical components that move on their own to create a physical presence.

OpenAI hopes to unveil the hardware later this year, aiming for a consumer release in 2027.

Credit: AI-generated image by AllBlogThings team.

The physical design of the device moves away from standard display screens. Instead, the engineers use a fabric-covered capsule-like body that blends into home environments.

The concept image shows a minimalist, cylindrical speaker resting on a wooden table.

You can see the dark central camera lens and sensor ports integrated directly into the fabric surface, which allow the device to observe its surroundings.

The device incorporates a rechargeable battery to let users carry it from room to room during daily chores. It operates using GPT-Live, a voice model that allows natural, double-sided conversations where people can interrupt the voice assistant mid-sentence.

This AI speaker aims to learn user preferences, daily routines, and email contents over time to anticipate needs before the user asks.

OpenAI plans to get it manufactured by Foxconn and it is building the speaker under the creative direction of Jony Ive and his design firm, LoveFrom. The development follows OpenAI's acquisition of io Products, a hardware startup co-founded by Ive, for approximately $6.5 billion via an all-stock deal.

Former Apple industrial design head Evans Hankey is leading the engineering of the speaker.

Reportedly the price would be around $300 and this first hardware product by OpenAI would land in consumers hands not earlier than February 2027.

The development faces a major legal challenge from Apple. On July 10, 2026, Apple filed a federal trade-secret theft lawsuit against OpenAI, io Products, and two former employees.

The complaint accuses OpenAI of orchestrating a systematic campaign to recruit Apple engineers and extract proprietary hardware secrets to speed up its own device development.

Apple alleges that engineer Chang Liu kept an Apple-issued laptop after his departure and exploited a software vulnerability to download confidential hardware specifications.

The lawsuit includes a text message from Liu to an Apple colleague reading:

"LOL, I found out I can access the [network storage], so funny."

Apple also accuses OpenAI's chief hardware officer, Tang Tan, of using internal knowledge of departure security to help recruiting efforts.

The filing claims Tan directed Apple job candidates to bring physical components to interviews.

The lawsuit states:

"OpenAI's nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets."

OpenAI denies these allegations and plans to contest them in court.

Drew Pusateri, the director of strategic communications for OpenAI, posted a statement addressing the lawsuit:

"We have no interest in other companies' trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere."

OpenAI argues that the smart speaker is fundamentally different from any hardware product Apple currently sells, making trade-secret violations unlikely.

Apple is seeking a court injunction to halt OpenAI's hardware business, which could delay the planned 2027 launch.