Design: A Metal Donut That Comes to Life
Knowing how advanced the internals will be, you can appreciate Jony Ive's vision. Instead of boring plastic cylinders, we're getting a compact, premium metal gadget shaped like a thick donut or a hockey puck. Thanks to a built-in battery, you'll be able to carry it around the house with ease.
But the wildest detail is that the device will have moving parts. It will physically animate while talking to you.
Ive's goal is to make the gadget feel like a living, empathetic companion — breaking down the psychological barrier between humans and machines.
OpenAI's choice of a home device format is no accident. Recent failures of wearable AI gadgets (like the Humane AI Pin) proved that people aren't ready to ditch their smartphones and chat with AI on the go. A smart speaker is a safe starting point for the concept of an invisible interface — one where all you need is your voice and the surrounding context.
Surveillance or Convenience: What Happens to Your Personal Data?
Bringing a gadget with always-on cameras and microphones into your home is a serious psychological hurdle. It sounds like a paranoid nightmare — and OpenAI knows it. To make sure Big Brother fears don't kill sales, privacy is being built in at the hardware level.
When the speaker activates its vision or microphone, a bright indicator light on the body turns on — one that physically cannot be disabled through settings. Hardware buttons for completely cutting power to the microphones are also expected.
Most importantly, to avoid streaming video from your living room or kitchen to the cloud, basic visual analysis and face recognition will happen locally — right on the device's internal processor.
Conflict with Apple, Price, and Release Date
Development is taking place against the backdrop of a fierce legal battle. Apple is accusing OpenAI of stealing trade secrets, as hundreds of former Apple engineers and designers are working on the new speaker.
If the lawyers can fend off the lawsuit, the release will happen in 2027. The expected price is between $300 and $400 — more than a typical smart speaker, but noticeably more affordable than flagship smartphones. For that price, OpenAI is offering not just a speaker with a voice assistant, but a device that sees its surroundings and adapts to the specific person in the room. Right now, this looks like a bid to create a new category of home gadgets — not just another speaker for music and timers. The key question isn't even about the technology; it's about trust: will people be willing to let an always-on camera into their home for the sake of that convenience? The answer will determine whether this becomes a niche toy for enthusiasts or the first truly mainstream home AI.
