• Former Apple design chief Jony Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are building a mystery ChatGPT device.
• The interwebs have come alive with gadget guesses, renders, and memes.
• OpenAI is trying to challenge Apple and Google by redefining AI interaction with new hardware.

Let's get something out of the way first: very few people really know what former Apple design chief Jony Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are building.

That hasn't stopped the internet from bursting at the seams with wild guesses, gorgeous renders, speculative hot takes, and a healthy dose of meme-fueled imagination.

So, what is this mystery device that Ive is cooking up for OpenAI's ChatGPT? A screenless wearable? A next-gen smart assistant? A pocketable AI oracle? A glorified paperweight?

Here's our roundup of the best guesses — serious, speculative, satirical, and everything in between. Thank you to my Business Insider colleagues for contributing to this Friday's fun.

Serious Guesses: Industry Analyst Weighs In

OK fine. We'll start with some serious ideas.

TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is a credible source in the tech hardware and supply-chain space, especially when it comes to Apple. His take on the Ive-OpenAI gadget is valuable:

• Form Factor: Think small. Maybe iPod Shuffle-sized. Portable, minimal, and delightfully Ive-ish.
• Wearable: One of the use cases includes wearing it around your neck. Shades of sci-fi, Star Trek, or perhaps a Tamagotchi on steroids?
• No Screen: It will have cameras and mics for environmental awareness but no display. The idea is to not add another screen to our lives.
• Companion Device: It will connect to your smartphone or laptop for processing and visual output.
• Production Timeline: Mass production is expected in 2027, giving us plenty of time for more leaks, renders, and conspiracy theories.

Kuo suggested on X that the announcement was timed to shift attention away from Google I/O. OpenAI positioned this as a new hardware-software narrative, riding the trend of "physical AI."

He also referenced a great quote from former Apple fellow Alan Kay: "People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware." That's exactly what Altman and OpenAI are trying to do here.

Clues from Altman and WSJ

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Altman offered OpenAI staff a preview of the devices he's building with Ive:

• The device was described as an AI "companion." Altman wants to ship 100 million of them on day one.
• It will be aware of its surroundings and fit in your pocket or sit on your desk.
• It's not a phone or smart glasses. Ive reportedly wasn't keen on a wearable, though the final design may still flirt with that concept.
• Altman said the device should be the third major object on your desk, alongside a MacBook and iPhone.
• There will be a "family of devices," and Altman even floated the idea of mailing subscribers new ChatGPT-powered computers.

They aim to shift away from screen-based interaction and rethink what AI companionship really means in a day-to-day human context.

Renders, memes, and vibes

The brilliant designer Ben Geskin imagined several cool form factors on X, including this circular disc.

Geskin's ideas blend Apple-grade minimalism with futuristic whimsy, perfectly on brand for Jony Ive.

• Some smart glasses, because of course.
• A dangly dongle, equal parts techie and jewelry.
• Square/rectangular objects with eerie elegance.

Echoing Geskin, another user on X proposed a disc-shaped device, sleek enough to pass as a high-end coaster or futuristic hockey puck. Think of it as an AI desk companion, quietly listening and gently glowing.

One BI colleague mentioned a smart ChatGPT lamp, possibly inspired by "The Sopranos" episode where the FBI bugs Tony's basement. Funny, but not impossible. After all, a lamp fits Altman's desk-friendly criteria.

Another X user joked that the device could resemble those emergency pendants worn by older adults — "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!" — but with ChatGPT instead of a nurse. A brutal meme, but it raises a valid point: If the device is meant to be always-on, context-aware, and worn, why not market it to older users, too?

Although, if this is for the olds, should it use Google Gemini instead? Burn!

X user Peter Hu proposed an AI-powered nail clipper. Yes, it's absurd, and no, it doesn't make sense. But the design? Low-key fire.

Here's mocked up a vape pen with a ChatGPT twist. Inhale wisdom, exhale existential dread.

Some of the most surreal concepts look like direct plugs into your skull. There's a "Matrix" or "Severance" vibe here, suggesting a future where ChatGPT lives in your head like a helpful parasite.

This one below is cute!

I asked ChatGPT to take a guess. The answer was not impressive. No wonder OpenAI paid $6.5 billion for Ive's hardware design startup.

This last one is a Silicon Valley insider joke. It's also a warning that it's extremely hard to replace smartphones as the go-to tech gadget. It's a riff on the Humane pin, an AI device that bombed already.

Can OpenAI compete with Apple and Google?

This device matters beyond its shape because of what it represents. Right now, Apple and Google dominate the interface layer of computing through iOS and Android devices. If OpenAI wants to define how people interact with ChatGPT, it needs a hardware beachhead.

Humane's AI pin tried and failed. The Rabbit R1 got roasted. The jury's still out on Meta's Ray-Bans. Can Ive and Altman actually crack the code?

Knowing Ive, we'll probably be surprised no matter what. The real product could be something no one predicted.

The race to define the next major computing interface is officially on. With Ive and Altman teaming up, OpenAI is making a major bet that how we interact with AI is just as important as what AI can do.

When the curtain lifts, and Ive whispers "aluminium" in a design video, jaws will probably drop, and competitors will scramble.

Until then, keep your renders weird, your guesses wild, and your brain tuned in to BI. We'll be here to cover every hilarious, ambitious, and brilliant twist along the way.

See you in 2027.

• Jony Ive and Sam Altman are teaming up to make AI hardware.
• They aren't giving many clues about what it would be like, but probably screen-free, and not a phone.
• Please, I beg you, Jony and Sam: Do not make me talk to a device in public.

I'm as curious and excited as any gadget lover to see what newfangled AI thingamabob will come from OpenAI's $6.5 billion purchase of the ex-Apple designer Jony Ive's IO company.

But I have one request: Please, for the love of God, do not make it a voice-controlled device.

Here's what we know about the possible device that Ive and Sam Altman are teasing in a video about their new collaboration. The Wall Street Journal reported that Altman told OpenAI employees a few details:

The product will be capable of being fully aware of a user's surroundings and life, will be unobtrusive, able to rest in one's pocket or on one's desk, and will be a third core device a person would put on a desk after a MacBook Pro and an iPhone.

The Journal earlier reported that the device won't be a phone, and that Ive and Altman's intent is to help wean users from screens. Altman said that the device isn't a pair of glasses, and that Ive had been skeptical about building something to wear on the body.

Ming-Chi Kuo, a supply chain analyst who is often correct about coming hardware, says that the device may be something larger than the Humane AI Pin, and possibly worn around the neck.

I am extremely nervous that this sounds like it might be some sort of voice-controlled device.

Don't get me wrong: I'm an enthusiastic voice user of Alexa (at home) and Siri (in the car). I can see how convenient it is.

But the idea of talking to Siri while walking down the street or at a grocery store gives me hives. The idea of saying, "Hey Meta, take a picture" to activate my Ray-Bans while at a Benson Boone concert makes me want to bite my cyanide capsule. If I ever start using Siri out loud at my desk in the office, I fully accept that HR can fire me on the spot.

(Of course, voice-controlled devices are an accessibility issue for some people who are blind, have low vision, or otherwise have trouble using a screen device. I am not talking about this use, which is obviously good and a benefit. Perhaps society would be better if public use of voice devices were more normalized!)

OpenAI does seem to be interested in voice. At a demonstration over a year ago, it showed new voices that could talk to you (this was the demonstration that infamously got them in trouble with Scarlett Johansson for making a voice option suspiciously close to her own).

Meta has also embraced the idea of voice controls. Its stand-alone Meta AI app is meant for natural conversations between you and the app on your phone (though, at the moment, it's laggy and often leads to crosstalk).

It's a long-held sci-fi dream to have a supersmart AI agent you can just talk to naturally. Like Tony Stark's Jarvis, or the ScarJo voice in "Her." But even "Knight Rider" had the basic understanding that it was OK to talk to your car only in your car.

Humane's AI Pin turned out to be a disaster, partly because it just didn't work very well. Let's assume whatever OpenAI/IO is cooking up will be good at doing what it's supposed to.

Based on what the AI Pin could do, and other examples of AI assistants or devices, I can make a few guesses of what it might be able to do: listen to your work meeting and take notes for you, give you information about something you see in front of you ("What building is this?" or, "Which of these two sandwiches at Pret has more protein?"), do personal assistant tasks for you ("How much time until my next meeting?" or, "Text Hayley and tell her I'm running late.")

These all sound great and convenient! But a lot of them require something that I don't think I want to be doing: talking to my device out loud, in public, constantly.

We're at a moment in society where people are already pushing the norms of what is appropriate public device use. People are watching TikTok without headphones on the subway. Texting at the movie theater. Filming themselves at the gym. It was already weird enough when people started talking on the phone with AirPods in, making it unclear whether the person headed toward you on the sidewalk was on a call or experiencing a religious revelation. I don't think we're ready for a world where people are constantly talking to their always-on, always-listening AI devices.

So I eagerly await this device, which Altman says will sell 100 million units and be ready by the end of 2026. But please, please, do not make me talk to it in public.