Before Google kicked off its I/O 2025 event, which turned out to be an even more exciting display of AI prowess than last year, I wondered whether OpenAI would make any last-minute ChatGPT announcements to shock the world before Google had a chance to announce all its Gemini novelties.
OpenAI did no such thing, choosing not to repeat last year’s stunt. But that’s only because it had a much better trick up its sleeve to steal the world’s attention away from Google. OpenAI scheduled the surprise announcement of the first io ChatGPT product two days after Google’s main I/O keynote.
The company released a great announcement video featuring Sam Altman and Jony Ive. In it, the two announced the new partnership between OpenAI, io, and LoveFrom and teased the slew of AI devices they’ll be releasing in the coming years.
The video told us that Sam Altman is already using a finished prototype of this mysterious io ChatGPT device, without revealing additional details about the product. We learned it wouldn’t be a laptop, as that’s a cumbersome way to initiate conversations with ChatGPT. It wasn’t clear if it would be a phone, but previous reports have said the two parties, now joined under OpenAI, will not make a phone of their own.
The clip also teased a release date for the io ChatGPT product, saying OpenAI and io look forward to sharing their work next year. More details about this first ChatGPT gadget leaked quickly after Sam Altman briefed employees about the news.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Altman gave OpenAI staff a preview of the devices. The CEO said OpenAI plans to sell 100 million AI “companions” once the product arrives in late 2026.
That’s the first big detail about the device. It’ll be a product you carry, but not a phone, and not a wearable, as Altman later said. The first io ChatGPT device will not be a pair of smart glasses, and Altman is skeptical of wearable gadgets.
As for the plan to sell 100 million units, Altman said OpenAI might reach that milestone faster than any first-gen brand-new product from any other company.
Altman said that OpenAI “has the chance to do the biggest thing we’ve ever done as a company here,” explaining that the $6.5 billion purchase of Jony Ive’s hardware startup might add $1 trillion in value to OpenAI.
Speaking of the io ChatGPT product, Altman said the device will be fully aware of the user’s surroundings and life. It will be unobtrusive, and it’ll be small enough to rest in a pocket. Altman said the gadget would become the third “core device” you put on a desk after a MacBook Pro or iPhone.
Altman also highlighted these two products as key devices that Jony Ive had a big role in making during his long stint at Apple.
The WSJ also notes that Altman told OpenAI staff that secrecy would be paramount so competitors couldn’t copy the device before it was ready. Yet the audio recording of this internal meeting has already leaked.
The CEO revealed that OpenAI and io have been working on the first ChatGPT gadget for some 18 months. The company settled on the final product last fall. Ive’s team has been speaking with vendors for the past few months to manufacture the device at scale.
The original plan was for the two companies to exist separately. OpenAI would handle the software, and io would make the hardware. But then Altman said he realized the device would not be just an accessory but a central facet of the user experience with OpenAI.
“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,” Altman said.
The video OpenAI released on Wednesday told us io will be working on a family of ChatGPT products, not just the mysterious one launching next year. Altman hyped up the io product by detailing the prototype he got to use.
Jony recently gave me one of the prototypes of the device for the first time to take home, and I’ve been able to live with it, and I think it is the coolest piece of technology that the world will have ever seen.
I’ve long said that ChatGPT needs its own home in a world where Apple and Google are the frontrunners for making devices that can offer access to more advanced AI. I also said that having Jony Ive bring to OpenAI his design expertise and decades-long experience at Apple could be exactly what OpenAI needs to make a product that the world will want.
I don’t know about you, but I’m already excited to see what this mysterious io ChatGPT device is. I’ll probably buy one as soon as I get a chance. And I’m definitely looking forward to seeing Ive announce his new creation on stage and in promo videos. That’s something that has been missing from Apple product launch events for quite a while now.
