Just a day after confirming OpenAI’s involvement in a colossal $500 billion AI data center project in the United Arab Emirates, CEO Sam Altman has unveiled a bold new vision for how humans might interact with technology. In a message to internal staff, Altman discussed early development plans for a personal AI device in collaboration with former Apple design chief Jony Ive.
Ex-Apple design chief Jony Ive partners with Sam Altman to create new AI superdevice
Ive was the creative force behind iconic products such as the iMac, iPhone and Apple Watch, as well as the architectural design of Apple Park and the company’s flagship stores worldwide. He worked closely with Steve Jobs in transforming Apple into a trillion-dollar business.
In a team call exclusively obtained by The Wall Street Journal, Altman and Ive outlined plans to develop and ship more than 100 million AI “companions” designed to integrate seamlessly into users’ personal lives and households. These pocket-sized, screen-free devices will offer a voice-to-voice experience, similar to Amazon’s Echo or the Google Home—but with far more advanced capabilities.
The partnership between Altman and Ive will extend beyond a single item launch. OpenAI has agreed to acquire Ive’s one-year-old startup, io, for $6.5 billion, aiming to introduce “a new family of products” for the next era of artificial general intelligence (AGI). AGI is an advanced form of artificial intelligence tech embedded in personal devices that can understand, reason and learn across a broad range of tasks—essentially allowing these devices to think and adapt like a human.
“We’ve brought together the world’s leading hardware and software engineers, technologists, physicists, scientists, researchers, and experts in product development and manufacturing,” the duo said in an internal memo announcing the io merger.
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Designed to be contextually aware, AGI devices like these are expected to gradually learn the rhythms of your everyday life, adapting their behavior to fit naturally into the home and work environment while remaining unobtrusive.
Altman described the design project as the company’s most ambitious to date, forecasting it will become the fastest-selling product in history. The device is expected to be neither a smartphone nor glasses, with definite plans to keep it screen-free—a feature they hope will significantly cut down global screen time moving forward.
“We’ve been waiting for the next big thing for 20 years,” Altman told the WSJ. “We want to bring people something beyond the legacy products we’ve been using for so long.”
OpenAI plans screen-free future with AGI device expected to launch in 2026
Bringing this vision to life has demanded a quiet, sustained effort from the tech entrepreneurs behind it, who have deliberately kept the project under wraps. Over the past decade, various personal “third devices,” from smartwatches to smart glasses, have emerged, but none have harnessed the power of AI found in our laptops and phones at the moments we need it most.
Ive, alongside Jobs, pursued a similar strategy in the early days, keeping the first iPhone highly secretive and confidential through almost its entire development stage. Only a select group of engineers and top Apple officials were involved before the device was revealed to the public in 2007, under the code name “Project Purple.” OpenAI is adopting a similarly cautious approach, withholding many details in recognition of the many competitors ready to capitalize on new emerging technology.
‘I think it is the coolest piece of technology that the world will have ever seen.’
In an announcement video, Ive and Altman described their artistic vision as one centered on enhancing and overhauling the user experience, with future products designed to minimize the effort and time required to complete tasks or projects or obtain solutions. In reference to the mysterious device, Altman said, “I think it is the coolest piece of technology that the world will have ever seen.”
Altman and Ive’s AI companion device won’t launch until late next year, signaling a slow rollout as OpenAI continues its push toward AGI—a goal that still depends on public interest and adoption. At OpenAI’s San Francisco headquarters, now widely recognized as one of the leading global hubs for AI research, numerous projects like these are still in early-stage development. OpenAI remains in a growth phase and does not anticipate reaching profitability before 2029.
Altman, already flooded with projects as OpenAI pushes forward in global AI research and investment, has embraced this new challenge with genuine hope for success. Despite glossy ads and talk of a tech revolution, the AGI market must still meet the test of necessity and practical use before we can envision a golden age.
Photo by Novikov Aleksey/Shutterstock
