Beyond the Screen: What Might Jony Ive and Sam Altman's AI Device Look Like

The tech world is buzzing with anticipation for good reason.

Two heavyweights of the tech scene, Jony Ive, the design genius behind Apple's iconic products, and Sam Altman, the visionary CEO of OpenAI, have joined the forces.

Their goal? To revolutionize how we interact with technology, promising an AI-powered device so groundbreaking it could redefine our digital lives.

Let’s take a closer look at what might this gadget actually look like!

The visionaries and their ambitious goal

One of the biggest tech partnerships of all time may be about to come up with an AI-powered device that redefines human-technology interaction.

Ive, having sold his hardware startup io to OpenAI for a mind-boggling $6.4 billion, is now leading the creative and design direction for the merged entities.

His main objective is to break free of the screen-centric paradigm that has dominated the last three decades, a paradigm he himself helped define with devices like the iPhone and Apple Watch.

Yet, the duo may be about to change that, offering an "unobtrusive" AI companion fully aware of your surroundings. This could involve subtle haptics or gentle audio, rather than a glowing display.

Sam Altman isn’t exactly known for the understatement, but even by his standards, calling a prototype “the coolest piece of technology the world will ever see” raises eyebrows. That’s how he described this new mystery device.

Sure, bold proclamations are Silicon Valley’s favorite pastime but, with results like theirs, it’s hard not to take the hype seriously.

However, AI does not have an easy road ahead. There have already been several AI misfires, including Humane's “AI Pin” and the Rabbit R1. Ive himself minced no words, reportedly dismissing them as “very poor products”.

So, what makes this one different?

The philosophy behind the new device

At the heart of this secretive project is a simple ambition: to reset our relationship with technology.

Ive has spoken openly about his discontent with how tech currently dominates our lives and how designers like himself helped create that reality. Now, he wants to fix it.

The goal is to design a device that supports well-being rather than stealing attention. Something that fits into your life instead of taking it over.

Altman, meanwhile, sees 100 million AI “companions” quietly integrating into daily routines—not as flashy gadgets, but as something fundamentally useful.

What we do know about the device is surprisingly specific, considering how little has been officially revealed. Here are some clues.

• It’s not a smartphone, and it’s definitely not AR glasses. Ive is skeptical of wearables glued to your body.
• It’s screenless. The Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggests the device may ditch the screen entirely, pursuing new forms of interaction.
• It might be worn around the neck, in a shape reminiscent of a sleek, modern iPod Shuffle.
• It will be context-aware, using the sensors, microphones, and possibly cameras to understand your environment, your habits, and even your moods.
• It’s meant to blend in, quietly offering an assistance without pulling you out of the moment.

The vision is something more radical than a voice assistant or gadget: it’s set to be an intelligent companion that doesn't require your full attention but is always there when you need it.

How we might interact with it

If there’s no screen, how do you use it? That’s where the things get interesting.

After all, many internet actions possible to take right now are done via a screen: shopping for groceries, booking a flight, playing in online casino, checking e-mails, etc.

The haptic feedback might deliver subtle nudges or notifications. This is a tech engaging your tactile sense, often without having to look at or listen to your device. The audio cues and whisper-level responses could also replace the constant pings and dings of your smartphone.

There’s even a speculation about micro-projectors that could beam the info directly into your environment, but that remains in a sci-fi territory—for now.

The emphasis seems to be on a calm tech: a design that prioritizes presence and mental health over compulsive engagement. Think less dopamine hits, more meaningful moments.

Why OpenAI needs this

As AI software becomes easier to replicate, owning the hardware becomes a strategic must.

Apple, for example, controls the full ecosystem of its products, which means Altman wants OpenAI to be more than just a backend provider of smart models—he wants to build the whole experience.

Mass production could kick off as early as 2027, with a consumer debut potentially in 2026. If the launch is successful, it could mark OpenAI’s transformation into a platform company that doesn’t only define how we interact with artificial intelligence.

A design manifesto

To many in the tech industry, this feels like a design manifesto. Ive and Altman are trying to reimagine what technology should feel like: in other words, less demanding, more human.

If they succeed, they won’t just have built the “coolest piece of technology the world has ever seen”. They’ll have redefined the relationship between humans and machines once more.

But with such high expectations, anything less than extraordinary could fall short. For now, we wait and wonder.