OpenAI’s first AI device with Jony Ive won’t be a wearable

Thanks to a related trademark lawsuit, we know what OpenAI and Jony Ive’s first AI device won’t be.

In court filings submitted this month, leaders from io — the consumer hardware team OpenAI recently acquired from Jony Ive’s design studio for $6.5 billion — testified that the first device they plan to release won’t be an “in-ear device” or a “wearable.” They also say the AI device won’t ship until “at least” 2026.

”The prototype Sam Altman referenced in the video is at least a year away from being offered for sale,” Tang Tan, io’s chief hardware officer and a former Apple design leader, said in a June 16th declaration. “Its design is not yet finalized, but it is not an in-ear device, nor a wearable device.”

“For many months after its founding, io surveyed the existing commercial offerings and engaged in prototyping exercises, as it considered a broad range of form factors, including objects that were desktop-based and mobile, wireless and wired, wearable and portable,” reads OpenAI’s June 12th opposition to Iyo’s lawsuit. “As part of these early efforts, io purchased a wide range of earbuds, hearing aids, and at least 30 different headphone sets from a variety of different companies.” (TechCrunch’s Maxwell Zeff first reported on the court documents.)

While Tan’s declaration states that io’s first piece of hardware won’t be an “in-ear device,” it’s clear from the evidence submitted in the case that io and OpenAI have considered the category. In one email from late March, an io employee named Marwan Rammah told Tang that they should consider buying 3D scans of human ears “as a helpful starting point on ergonomics and HF.” And in another email earlier that month, Altman responded to Iyo’s offer to personally invest in the company by writing: “thanks but im working on something competitive so will respectfully pass!”