OpenAI’s expensive smart speaker will use moving parts

What happened

OpenAI’s upcoming smart speaker will probably cost over $300, “people familiar with the matter” have told Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The generative AI company has “discussed” charging up to $400, Bloomberg, which has been reporting on the yet-to-be-announced smart speaker since July, said today. The publication said that OpenAI is viewing the smart speaker as a smartphone replacement. OpenAI has declined to comment on its product roadmap.

In the meantime, the AI firm is setting itself up for quite the challenge should it release a speaker within the reported price range. Such a device would be significantly more expensive than most smart speakers. 6-inch $300 Echo Show 15, or virtual surround sound, like the $220 Echo Studio. Per Bloomberg, the OpenAI speaker’s main appeal is ChatGPT capabilities.

Today, ChatGPT has significantly more users than Alexa+, but those users are largely accustomed to accessing the chatbot on devices they already own. With the rumored speaker, OpenAI would be betting on people’s willingness to pay substantial money for dedicated hardware to access chatbot features, the most advanced of which also require a subscription fee.

It’s somewhat ironic that OpenAI has seemingly chosen the smart speaker industry, which has faced severe profitability obstacles, to try to buoy its finances. Bloomberg claimed today that OpenAI will reveal its speaker this year and release it in 2027, assuming Apple’s lawsuit doesn’t disrupt those plans.

Why it matters

Per Bloomberg, the speaker will follow in the steps of other smart speakers lately in pushing an AI-first focus aimed at helping people complete tasks, compared to simpler smart speaker tasks, like checking the weather. The battery-powered gadget will reportedly “work similarly” to the ChatGPT voice mode on mobile apps “but with more advanced models for humanlike interactivity,” Bloomberg said.

The device will be able to control smart home devices too, the publication previously reported. OpenAI’s speaker will “be shaped like a doughnut that’s roughly the size of a hockey puck,” Bloomberg said today, citing its anonymous sources. Additionally, the device will reportedly have parts that will move independently when the speaker is responding to user prompts.

Like other speakers, it will also reportedly have lights to indicate when the device is listening. The moving parts and lights aim to make the device seem “more alive than today’s stationary speaker products,” the report said. Bloomberg pointed to “high-quality metal” and other premium materials for the speaker, which OpenAI reportedly designed with LoveFrom, a studio owned by famous former Apple designer Jony Ive.

Apple is currently suing OpenAI, accusing the AI company of stealing trade secrets for its hardware development. Bloomberg’s sources said that OpenAI launched an internal probe on the speaker following Apple’s lawsuit and determined that the speaker doesn’t use Apple IP. The speaker would join OpenAI’s only other gadget so far, the $230 Codex Micro mini keyboard. OpenAI is reportedly looking into making other AI-powered devices in the future.

What to watch

Without advanced hardware, which seems like it would be hard to fit in a device the size reported by Bloomberg, a $300 to $400 smart speaker is a hard sell. Still, with OpenAI losing billions of dollars a year, it’s understandable that it’s seeking additional revenue sources and to drive engagement.