New report from Information details OpenAI’s hardware ambitions and reveals that the first Jony Ive-designed device to be released is a smart speaker. Here are the details.
The smart speaker will be the first OpenAI product to launch, according to the report
OpenAI is working with Jony Ive to produce its first line of hardware products, with a market launch expected early next year.
According to a new report, it sounds like the first Ive-OpenAI collaboration to launch could be a smart speaker — a HomePod 2.0 for Ive, you might say.
Stephanie Palazzolo and Qianer Liu write at Information:
The smart speaker — the first OpenAI device to be launched — is likely to cost between $200 and $300, according to two people with knowledge of it. The speaker will have a camera that, according to one of the people, will allow it to receive information about users and their surroundings, such as objects on a nearby table or conversations people are having nearby. It will also allow people to buy things by identifying them with a facial recognition feature similar to Apple’s Face ID, the people said.
The report mentions two other products, both in active development: smart glasses and a smart lamp.
In addition to the trio of devices, Palazzolo and Liu also offer some new insights into the collaboration between Ive, LoveFrom, and OpenAI.
Ive’s involvement with OpenAI is complicated. He still runs his design firm LoveFrom as an entity independent of OpenAI, although LoveFrom is in charge of coming up with potential OpenAI device designs. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s in-house device team is in charge of building the hardware and software that powers it, as well as understanding how consumers will use the device.
This division of responsibilities created tension. Some OpenAI employees have complained that LoveFrom is slow to revise its designs and shares little about its process for coming up with new ones, even with others working on devices within OpenAI.
Additionally, it appears that after the Io acquisition, there were complications in integrating Io members with the existing OpenAI hardware team.
With Apple developing a trio of AI wearables and new products related to the HomePod, it will be interesting to see how the competition between the two companies develops.
Interested in an OpenAI smart speaker with a camera? Let us know in the comments.
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