OpenAI wants ChatGPT to live in your kitchen, not just your browser tab. Apple says the blueprints for that plan were lifted straight from its own vaults.
The timing could not be worse for OpenAI. Bloomberg revealed fresh details of the company’s first hardware device this week, just days after Apple filed a federal lawsuit accusing OpenAI’s hardware chief and one of his engineers of stealing trade secrets. What should have been a triumphant leak instead landed in the middle of a corporate espionage case.
The device: a speaker that isn’t really a speaker
OpenAI calls its first product “the world’s first computer built for AI.” Internally, the team avoids the word “speaker” almost entirely.
Here’s what the device reportedly includes:
- No screen. Every interaction happens through voice and ambient awareness.
- A camera and microphone array that read the room, not just listen to commands.
- Mechanical parts that move. The device shifts and repositions itself, a deliberate choice meant to make it feel alive rather than static.
- A rechargeable battery, so it can move from kitchen to office to living room instead of staying tethered to one outlet.
- GPT-Live, OpenAI’s full-duplex voice model, running the conversation. It can listen and speak at the same time and handle mid-sentence interruptions the way a person would.
The device draws on personal context, including a user’s email, to anticipate needs rather than wait for a wake word. That proactive design is the whole pitch: less “Alexa, set a timer,” more a companion that already knows what you need.
Pricing sits in the $200–$300 range, positioning it above an Echo Dot but below Apple’s HomePod mini. It’s the first of roughly five hardware products reportedly in development at OpenAI, including a longer-term device pitched as a smartphone replacement — a bigger swing at ChatGPT’s push to stay ahead as its user base grows beyond software alone.
One detail rarely reported: the device won’t carry the “io” name that made headlines when OpenAI acquired Jony Ive’s startup. A trademark dispute with audio company iyO pushed OpenAI to drop “io” entirely from marketing, branding, and sales materials for its hardware line, according to a February 2026 court filing from OpenAI VP Peter Welinder. A new name is still coming.
The bet that got OpenAI here
The hardware push traces back to May 2025, when OpenAI paid roughly $6.5 billion to acquire io Products, the startup Jony Ive co-founded with fellow Apple veterans Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey, and Tang Tan. It remains OpenAI’s largest acquisition to date.
Ive’s design studio, LoveFrom, leads creative direction on the project. Evans Hankey, Apple’s former head of industrial design, runs day-to-day development of the speaker. OpenAI also recently hired Paul Meade, who worked on Apple’s Vision Pro, to join the hardware team.
That roster is exactly what worries Apple.
The lawsuit: trade secrets, “show and tell,” and a laptop that never came back
Apple sued OpenAI on July 10, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The complaint accuses OpenAI of trade secret theft and breach of contract, and it doesn’t stop at generic claims about poached talent.
Two individuals are named as defendants:
Tang Tan, OpenAI’s chief hardware officer, spent 24 years at Apple before leaving, most recently as vice president of product design for iPhone and Apple Watch. Apple alleges Tan used Apple’s internal project codenames while interviewing job candidates who still worked at Apple, asked them to bring “actual parts” from Apple products to interviews for “show and tell” sessions, and circulated an Apple offboarding document that coached new hires on how to avoid the company’s exit security checks.
Chang Liu, a former senior systems electrical engineer who spent eight years at Apple, allegedly kept an Apple-issued laptop after leaving for OpenAI and used a former colleague’s Apple credentials to exploit an authentication bug. Apple says that bug gave Liu access to internal network storage, letting him download dozens of confidential files, including technical specifications and engineering presentations tied to unreleased products.
The complaint also alleges that OpenAI approached one of Apple’s manufacturing partners and had it carry out a specific trade-secret metal-finishing technique, allegedly misleading the partner into believing Apple had authorized the work.
Apple says more than 400 former employees now work at OpenAI. The filing calls the disclosed allegations “the tip of the iceberg” and argues OpenAI’s hardware business “rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets.”
OpenAI has denied wrongdoing. In a public statement, the company said: “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.” Apple is asking the court for an injunction, which could delay or block the hardware launch entirely if granted — a legal risk that sits directly on top of a product timeline OpenAI has already pushed back once.
Why the stakes go beyond one lawsuit
OpenAI isn’t just fighting Apple for engineering talent. It’s stepping into a category that has quietly chewed up well-funded companies before.
| Product / Company | Backing | Status |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI hardware (unnamed) | $6.5B io acquisition | Unveiling targeted for H2 2026; commercial launch pushed to 2027 |
| Hark (Brett Adcock) | $700M Series A, $6B valuation | Building “personal intelligence” hardware, still unrevealed |
| Humane AI Pin | Acquired by HP for $116M | Discontinued after weak sales and performance issues |
| ElliQ (Intuition Robotics) | Venture-backed | Actively deployed as an elderly-companion device since 2022 |
ElliQ is the closest real-world comparison to what OpenAI is reportedly building: a device with moving parts designed to feel less like a gadget and more like a presence in the room. Humane’s AI Pin is the cautionary tale — proof that “screenless and ambient” doesn’t guarantee success if the hardware can’t keep up with the pitch.
The market reacted fast to Bloomberg’s leak. Sonos shares dropped more than 10% in late trading before recovering some ground, a sign investors read OpenAI’s device as a real threat to the smart-speaker category rather than a science project. Apple’s stock barely moved.
That reaction matters for a company reportedly preparing for one of the most closely watched IPOs in tech history. A trade secrets trial playing out in public during that run-up is not the backdrop OpenAI wanted.
What happens next
Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer, said in January that the company was “on track” to unveil its first device in the second half of 2026, calling it the “most likely” timeline while adding, “we will see how things advance.” That caution looks prescient now. Bloomberg’s July reporting puts the commercial launch in 2027, with the ongoing litigation cited as a direct factor in the delay.
OpenAI maintains its device “veers significantly” from anything Apple currently sells. Whether that holds up will depend on discovery, not marketing copy. Apple has already flagged that it expects to find more.
For a company that entered the hardware race by hiring away the people who built the iPhone, proving its new speaker isn’t quietly built on Apple’s own work just became a much longer and more expensive job.
FAQs
Q. What is OpenAI’s first hardware device?
A screenless, portable AI speaker with a camera, microphone array, and mechanical parts that move. It runs on GPT-Live, OpenAI’s full-duplex voice model, and is expected to cost $200–$300.
Q. Why is Apple suing OpenAI?
Apple alleges that OpenAI’s chief hardware officer, Tang Tan, and engineer Chang Liu stole confidential Apple information, including hardware specifications and a proprietary manufacturing technique, to accelerate development of OpenAI’s own devices. The suit also accuses OpenAI of coaching departing Apple employees on how to avoid exit security checks.
Q. When will OpenAI’s device launch?
An unveiling was targeted for the second half of 2026. Bloomberg reported in July 2026 that the commercial launch has slipped to 2027, partly due to the ongoing lawsuit.
Q. Is the device still called “io”?
No. OpenAI dropped the “io” name from its hardware branding after a trademark dispute with audio company iyO. A new name hasn’t been announced.
Q. Could the lawsuit stop the device from launching?
Apple has asked the court for an injunction that could block or delay the release if granted. No ruling has been issued as of this writing.
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