After what felt like an age of tech industry tea-leaf reading, OpenAI has officially snapped up “io,” the much-buzzed-about startup building an AI device from former Apple design guru Jony Ive and OpenAI’s chief, Sam Altman. The price tag? $6.5 billion.

OpenAI put out a video this week talking about the Ive and Altman venture in a general sort of way, but now, a few more tidbits about what they’re actually cooking have slipped out.

And what are they planning with all that cash and brainpower? Well, the eagle-eyed folks at The Washington Post spotted an internal chat between Sam Altman and OpenAI staff where he set a target of shipping 100 million AI “companions.”

Altman allegedly even told his team the OpenAI device is “the chance to do the biggest thing we’ve ever done as a company here.”

To be clear, Altman has set that 100 million number as an eventual target. “We’re not going to ship 100 million devices literally on day one,” he said. But then, in a flex that’s pure Silicon Valley, he added they’d hit that 100 million mark “faster than any company has ever shipped 100 million of something new before.”

So, what is this mysterious “companion”? The gadget is designed to be entirely aware of a user’s surroundings, and even their “life.” While they’ve mostly talked about a single device, Altman did let slip it might be more of a “family of devices.”

Jony Ive, as expected, dubbed it “a new design movement.” You can almost hear the minimalist manifesto being drafted.

Why the full-blown acquisition, though? Weren’t they just going to partner up? Originally, yes. The plan was for Ive’s startup to cook up the hardware and sell it, with OpenAI delivering the brains. But it seems the vision got bigger. This isn’t just another accessory, you see.

Altman stressed the device will be a “central facet of using OpenAI.” He even said, “We both got excited about the idea that, if you subscribed to ChatGPT, we should just mail you new computers, and you should use those.”

Frankly, they reckon our current tech – our trusty laptops, the websites we browse – just isn’t up to snuff for the kind of AI experiences they’re dreaming of. Altman was pretty blunt, saying current use of AI “is not the sci-fi dream of what AI could do to enable you in all the ways that I think the models are capable of.”

So, we know it’s not a smartphone. Altman’s also put the kibosh on it being a pair of glasses. And Jony Ive, well, he’s apparently not rushing to make another wearable, which makes sense given his design ethos.

The good news for the impatient among us (i.e., everyone in tech) is that this isn’t just vapourware. Ive’s team has an actual prototype. Altman’s even taken one home to “live with it”. As for when we might get our hands on one? Altman’s reportedly aiming for a late 2026 release.

Naturally, OpenAI is keeping the actual device under wraps, but you can always count on supply chain whispers for a few clues. The ever-reliable (well, usually!) Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has thrown a few alleged design details into the ring via social media.

Kuo reckons it’ll be “slightly larger” than the Humane AI Pin, but that it will look “as compact and elegant as an iPod Shuffle.” And yes, like the Shuffle, Kuo says no screen.

According to Kuo, the device will chat with your phone and computer instead, using good old-fashioned microphones for your voice and cameras to see what’s going on around you. Interestingly, he suggests it’ll be worn around the neck, necklace-style, rather than clipped on like the AI Pin.

Kuo’s crystal ball points to mass production in 2027, but he wisely adds a pinch of salt, noting the final look and feel could still change.

So, the billion-dollar (well, £5.1 billion) question remains: will this OpenAI device be the next big thing, the gamechanger we’ve been waiting for? Or will it be another noble-but-failed attempt to break free from the smartphone’s iron grip, joining the likes of the AI Pin in the ‘great ideas that didn’t quite make it’ pile?

Altman, for one, is brimming with confidence. Having lived with the prototype, he’s gone on record saying he believes it will be “the coolest piece of technology that the world will have ever seen.”

See also: Linux Foundation: Slash costs, boost growth with open-source AI

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