OpenAI overtook Elon Musk’s SpaceX to become the world’s most valuable private company this week, after a deal that valued it at $500 billion. One of the ways the ChatGPT maker is seeking to justify the price tag is a push into hardware.
The goal is to improve the “smart speakers” of the past decade, such as Amazon’s Echo speaker and its Alexa digital assistant, which are generally used for a limited set of functions such as listening to music and setting kitchen timers.
OpenAI and Ive are seeking to build a more powerful and useful machine. But two people familiar with the project said that settling on the device’s “voice” and its mannerisms were a challenge.
One issue is ensuring the device only chimes in when useful, preventing it from talking too much or not knowing when to finish the conversation—an ongoing issue with ChatGPT.
“The concept is that you should have a friend who’s a computer who isn’t your weird AI girlfriend… like [Apple’s digital voice assistant] Siri but better,” said one person who was briefed on the plans. OpenAI was looking for “ways for it to be accessible but not intrusive.”
“Model personality is a hard thing to balance,” said another person close to the project. “It can’t be too sycophantic, not too direct, helpful, but doesn’t keep talking in a feedback loop.”
OpenAI’s device will be entering a difficult market. Friend, an AI companion worn as a pendant around your neck, has been criticized for being “creepy” and having a “snarky” personality. An AI pin made by Humane, a company that Altman personally invested in, has been scrapped.
Still, OpenAI has been on a hiring spree to build its hardware business. Its acquisition of io brought in more than 20 former Apple hardware employees poached by Ive from his alma mater. It has also recruited at least a dozen other Apple device experts this year, according to LinkedIn accounts.
It has similarly poached members of Meta’s staff working on the Big Tech group’s Quest headset and smart glasses.
OpenAI is also working with Chinese contract manufacturers, including Luxshare, to create its first device, according to two people familiar with the development that was first reported by The Information. The people added that the device might be assembled outside of China.
OpenAI and LoveFrom, Ive’s design group, declined to comment.
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