{"slug": "openais-first-hardware-device-is-reportedly-a-screenless-speaker-that-can-move", "title": "OpenAI’s first hardware device is reportedly a screenless speaker that can move", "summary": "OpenAI is developing a screenless mobile smart speaker with integrated AI capabilities, designed as a humanlike companion that can sync with ChatGPT and learn from users' digital lives. The device, built with help from former Apple engineers, comes as Apple has sued OpenAI for alleged trade secret theft, though OpenAI denies wrongdoing.", "body_md": "OpenAI’s first foray into hardware devices is reported to be a mobile smart speaker with integrated AI capabilities that can sync with ChatGPT and provide other home AI services.\n\nBloomberg [reported](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-14/openai-s-first-device-will-be-moveable-screenless-speaker-built-as-ai-companion) Tuesday that the device — which is still currently under development — is designed to be screen-free and is being pitched internally as a “humanlike AI companion that lives in the home.”\n\nOpenAI has long claimed that it wants to launch a hardware product — with some rumors being that it wants to launch its own phone, a move that would put it in competition with Apple.\n\nOpenAI’s newly surfaced device sounds like something of a departure from traditional smart speakers — as sources described the device to Bloomberg as having a “personality” and being able to proactively learn about its owner over time, providing more personalized service. The machine would have access to a user’s digital life, drawing off things like emails, sources said.\n\nThe device is also weirdly described as involving “mechanical elements that can move on their own” and the Bloomberg report includes the detail that the device is designed to “feel like a companion and become a physical manifestation of OpenAI’s ChatGPT.”\n\nThe device was developed with help from many former Apple engineers who were instrumental in “creating products such as the iPhone and Mac,” Bloomberg writes. Indeed, OpenAI may be attempting to launch a new hardware line, but the company is currently up to its eyeballs in trouble over hardware-related legal problems.\n\nApple [last week sued OpenAI](https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/10/apple-sues-openai-over-alleged-trade-secret-theft/), accusing the AI company of stealing its trade secrets. Apple further claimed that the allegations involved in the suit are merely** **“the tip of the iceberg” and that more misconduct will be revealed during the legal discovery process. OpenAI has denied wrongdoing.\n\nCiting anonymous sources with knowledge of OpenAI’s plans, Bloomberg writes that the company feels its new product “veers significantly from anything Apple has on the market today” and that it is “unlikely that it violates trade secrets” belonging to Apple.\n\nOpenAI’s push comes as the tech world grows more excited about consumer AI hardware more broadly. Hark, an AI lab founded by Brett Adcock, raised an oversubscribed $700 million Series A back in May at a [$6 billion valuation](https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/21/hark-raises-700m-series-a-for-its-secretive-universal-ai-interface/) to build what it calls “personal intelligence” — proprietary AI models paired with custom hardware designed as a “universal interface between humans and machines.”\n\nThe company hasn’t yet detailed its device’s form factor, underscoring how much capital is chasing this category even before products ship.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/openais-first-hardware-device-is-reportedly-a-screenless-speaker-that-can-move", "canonical_source": "https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/openais-first-hardware-device-is-reportedly-a-screenless-speaker-that-can-move/", "published_at": "2026-07-14 22:22:24+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-14 22:30:46.507757+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-products", "ai-startups"], "entities": ["OpenAI", "Apple", "ChatGPT", "Bloomberg", "Hark", "Brett Adcock"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/openais-first-hardware-device-is-reportedly-a-screenless-speaker-that-can-move", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/openais-first-hardware-device-is-reportedly-a-screenless-speaker-that-can-move.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/openais-first-hardware-device-is-reportedly-a-screenless-speaker-that-can-move.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/openais-first-hardware-device-is-reportedly-a-screenless-speaker-that-can-move.jsonld"}}