OpenAI smart speaker sounds like Alexa beater, not iPhone killer
OpenAI smart speaker sounds like Alexa beater, not iPhone killer
https://www.cultofmac.com/news/openai-smart-speaker
Publish Date: 2026-07-15 01:26:00
Source Domain: www.cultofmac.com
OpenAI’s probable first device will likely be a portable smart speaker with a winning personality and features that make it seem like a living creature. The company envisions a screenless device that will “serve as a humanlike AI companion that lives in the home,” according to a new report citing anonymous sources.
While previous rumors indicated OpenAI wants to build a device to challenge the iPhone, this sounds like more of a threat to Apple’s HomePod, Amazon’s Alexa devices and other smart speakers.
Oh, and the thing might actually move to make it seem more lifelike.
OpenAI thinks you’ll fall for its super-smart speaker
With an IPO in the offing and Wall Street buzzing on artificial intelligence hype, OpenAI wants to develop hardware that weaves its white-hot AI tools into users’ everyday lives. The company reportedly is working on a handful of devices — and it teamed up with former Apple design chief Jony Ive to create them.
The company sees this first device as a “new type of home computer for the AI era,” according to a Tuesday report from Bloomberg. The smart speaker could “help control smart-home appliances, play media, answer questions, respond to messages and tap into the range of capabilities offered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT.”
Just as ChatGPT can learn from past interactions, so it seems to “know” you over time, OpenAI’s smart speaker is designed to “become increasingly personalized and proactive as it gains a deeper understanding of its owner.” It will reportedly run on GPT-Live, OpenAI’s new voice mode that seems more like talking to a real person.
A chatty device that seems somehow alive
And that’s not the only way OpenAI wants to make its smart speaker seem chummy and personable. It will even subtly move so it mimics a living creature!
“OpenAI believes the product’s defining feature will be its personality and ability to connect on a humanlike level with users,” Bloomberg said. “The speaker…
