OpenAI is building an AI smart speaker, and new details say it’ll cost between $300 and $400 a unit. According to TechCrunch AI, citing a fresh Bloomberg report, the device is being pitched as the “physical manifestation” of ChatGPT, a piece of hardware that puts the assistant on your kitchen counter or bedside table instead of just your phone.
And yes, it’s shaped like a donut. TechCrunch AI reports the design is deliberate, so you can pick it up and move it around the house. What stands out here is how far this sits from a normal speaker: metal build, “premium look,” and, oddly, distinct “moving parts” that even the sources couldn’t fully explain.
Here’s what we know so far.
- The form factor is the whole pitch. The donut shape isn’t a gimmick for its own sake. It’s meant to be portable inside your home, so one device follows you from room to room rather than forcing you to buy three. That’s a different bet than Amazon’s fleet-of-cheap-Echos approach.
- It’s built to feel expensive. “High-quality metal” and a “premium look” tell you OpenAI isn’t chasing the budget crowd. The moving parts detail is the wild card. Nobody outside the project seems to know exactly what moves or why, and that’s the part worth watching as more leaks.
- Jony Ive is behind the design. The device is being developed with LoveFrom, the studio founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive. That’s the same design DNA behind the iPhone, which explains the obsession with materials and finish over raw specs.
- The price is the risky bet. At $300 to $400, this thing costs more than almost every mainstream smart speaker. For comparison, TechCrunch AI notes Amazon’s smart home speakers run from about $40 on the low end to $240 at the top. OpenAI is asking people to pay premium money in a category most shoppers treat as an impulse buy.
- Ship date is 2027. This isn’t around the corner. Bloomberg pegs the release for sometime in 2027, which gives OpenAI a long runway and gives competitors just as long to react.
Why it matters
The logic is easy to see. A physical device wires ChatGPT deeper into daily life, the same way Alexa and Google Assistant did for their owners. Own the hardware in someone’s kitchen and you own a habit, not just a browser tab.
The hard part is the market itself. As TechCrunch AI points out, smart speakers have a rough history of actually making money, and breaking in has tripped up companies with far more hardware experience than OpenAI. A $300-plus price tag doesn’t make that easier. Amazon and Google spent years selling speakers near cost to get them into homes. OpenAI is starting at the opposite end of the shelf.
Then there’s the legal cloud. OpenAI’s move into hardware hasn’t been smooth. Apple, the current heavyweight in consumer devices, is suing the company, accusing it of stealing trade secrets. OpenAI denies any wrongdoing, but a courtroom fight with the most powerful hardware maker on earth is a heavy thing to carry into your first physical product.
What comes next
Expect more leaks before anything official. A 2027 launch means we’re still early, and details like those mysterious moving parts and the final price could shift before it hits shelves. The real test won’t be the design or the ChatGPT branding. It’ll be whether people are willing to pay iPhone-adjacent money for a talking donut when a $40 Echo already sits on the counter.
OpenAI clearly thinks the answer is yes. Whether shoppers agree is the whole ballgame. You can find the full report over at TechCrunch AI.