The artificial intelligence startup has signed a contract with Luxshare to assemble at least one device and has approached Goertek to supply components, The Information reported Friday (Sept. 19).
Luxshare share assembles Apple iPhones and AirPods in China, while Goertek assembles AirPods, HomePods and Apple Watches, according to the report.
The AI-powered devices OpenAI has considered making include a smart speaker, glasses, a digital voice recorder and a wearable pin, the report said.
The company aims to release its first device late next year or in early 2027, per the report.
OpenAI announced in May that it was acquiring io, an AI device startup created by former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive — who led the design of the iPhone, iPod, iPad and Apple Watch — and former Apple designers Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey and Tang Tan.
The company said at the time that io would become the devices division at OpenAI.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in the announcement of the acquisition that there is a need for a new generation of devices for the AI era and that there should be a better way to access AI.
“I think we have the opportunity here to kind of completely reimagine what it means to use a computer,” Altman said.
It was reported later in May that OpenAI Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap said the company wants to build an “ambient computer layer” that would enable users to access AI without having to look at a screen.
Lightcap said at the time that OpenAI aims to build AI that it “truly personal.”
In June, OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said the company’s acquisition of io will lead to a new computing era similar to the leap from flip phones to the touchscreen smartphone.
“I think for AI, there’s a whole new way to think about multimodality,” Friar said. “We’re going to stop thumb-talkers (texting) to begin with. We’re going to think about the fact that we hear, we see, we speak. And these models have an intelligence that can take all of that in.”
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