io’s mysterious ChatGPT device won’t be a wearable – Boy Genius Report
Sign up for our daily newsletter
BGR’s team sends an AM subscriber-only newsletter with the top tech & entertainment stories at 9AM ET. Sign up to read it.
If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.
Over the weekend, some ChatGPT fans noticed that OpenAI quietly removed the Sam Altman-Jony Ive video from the website and the accompanying announcement that OpenAI had purchased Ive’s io to make ChatGPT devices.
Some worried that OpenAI might have abruptly pulled the plug on ChatGPT io hardware, but that wasn’t the case.
A court order in a trademark lawsuit forced OpenAI to temporarily remove those press materials. Google-backed iyO is a startup that makes wearable computers with custom-molded earpieces. Specifically, they create voice-controlled earphones where the user talks to the operating system and apps.
iyO sued OpenAI, and the court filings have started piling up on the web. They reveal the history between the two entities as well as the first details about OpenAI’s plans for the ChatGPT io gadget.
Sign up for the most interesting tech & entertainment news out there.
When Sam Altman and Jony Ive announced the io purchase, the OpenAI CEO mentioned he had tried the first ChatGPT gadget Ive and his team made. Altman teased that the unnamed device “completely captured” his imagination, without revealing the design or how it’s supposed to work.
Altman did say that the way we access ChatGPT today is too complicated, suggesting the io hardware would make it much easier to use the AI.
Altman further detailed the mysterious product during an internal OpenAI meeting that followed. That’s when we got more details about the gadget. Altman reportedly said the ChatGPT io device would be the third most important gadget in one’s life, following the iPhone (smartphone) and MacBook (computer).
The device would sit in a pocket or on a desk, and it would be aware of the user’s surroundings and context.
A mid-June filing from OpenAI says the unnamed ChatGPT io device is “at least a year away,” suggesting the device might get a late 2026 release date at best.
OpenAI teased in that video that it would unveil the product next year, without providing specific timelines or release dates.
The same document notes that OpenAI isn’t working on a wearable, at least not for the first product it plans to launch. That is, the product won’t be an in-ear device like the one iyO is taking preorders for. OpenAI lawyers point out that iyO will take several months to actually launch a product.
Other reports said the ChatGPT product might be worn around the neck. Placing it in a pocket would also make the ChatGPT io device a wearable. That is, you’d want to “wear” the AI companion device while you use it.
Ear placements make plenty of sense. Apple is rumored to bring Apple Intelligence to AirPods with cameras in the future. Bundling AI with smart glasses, like Meta, Google, and Samsung are doing, is another option. Apple is also believed to be working on its own smart glasses.
Whatever form factor OpenAI might be working on, it will need to be close by. The gadget should respond to voice and pack at least one camera to see the world on behalf of the user. Connectivity to AirPods and other earphones might also be a must.
All of this is speculation at this time. My point is that the ChatGPT gadget will have to be worn somehow, no matter what the OpenAI lawyers say.
Then again, OpenAI’s lawyers want to make it clear that the company isn’t just trying to reproduce the technology iyO has created and use the same name.
The document does say that OpenAI has purchased at least 30 headphone sets from various companies to test what’s available today.
Lawyers also say io looked at all sorts of devices, including options that looked like a computer or a mobile device. io considered “wired, wearable, and portable” for the ChatGPT gadget.
OpenAI has been aware of what iyO is working on for quite a while. Also, TechCrunch points out that the two parties have met.
OpenAI has tried the iyO technology in person, though hands-on demos were not fruitful. OpenAI’s VP of Product Peter Welinder and Tang Tan, io’s Chief Hardware Officer, met iyO’s CEO Jason Rugolo on May 1st to try the in-ear product. The device failed repeatedly during the demos.
The documents in the case also reveal that Rugolo tried to pitch iyO devices to OpenAI and even sell the company. He proposed that OpenAI launch an iyO device as a “developer kit” for its future AI device. He also suggested OpenAI could invest in iyO or buy the company outright for $200 million. Tan declined all these options.
Emails between io employees show the startup was interested in custom earpieces like the ones iyO offers. But OpenAI sought access to data from an ear-scanning company, The Ear Project, rather than iyO devices. The Ear Project works with iyO to create custom earpieces for buyers.
In a declaration to the court, Tan also confirmed that OpenAI will not make a wearable ChatGPT io device. He said the prototype Altman mentioned in the Ive video “is not an in-ear device, nor a wearable device.” Tan also said the ChatGPT device is at least a year away.
No matter what happens in this trademark case, OpenAI and io will surely launch a ChatGPT product at some point in the coming year. The company can’t afford not to have its own first-party hardware in stores to compete with all sorts of AI products. That will happen even if io needs to change its name.
Interestingly, the documents OpenAI filed show that Altman and Ive chose the io name in mid-2023, purchasing the io.com domain around that time, several months before iyO started using its name and registered the mark.
Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2007. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he closely follows the events in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.
Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming new movies and TV shows, or training to run his next marathon.
Sign up for the most interesting tech & entertainment news out there.
BGR’s audience craves our industry-leading insights on the latest in tech and entertainment, as well as our authoritative and expansive reviews.
We guide our loyal readers to some of the best products, latest trends, and most engaging stories with non-stop coverage, available across all major news platforms.
Founded in 2006
Over 2 billion visitors
100K+ articles published
Millions of readers helped
Honest news coverage, reviews, and opinions since 2006.
– Jonathan S. Geller, Founder
© 2024 BGR Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
