OpenAI is reportedly building a high-end AI speaker

The upcoming device is essentially a smart speaker that lacks a screen, making it a voice-first assistant. It is roughly the size of a hockey puck and runs on battery power, meaning you can carry it around your home rather than leaving it plugged into a single wall outlet. At a projected price between $300 and $400, it is positioned as a luxury item, costing significantly more than most voice-controlled speakers currently on the market. The device is expected to use advanced models, which are the sophisticated mathematical frameworks that allow software to process human speech and generate conversational responses, to provide a more natural, lifelike interaction than typical digital assistants.

This device relies on the same core technology as ChatGPT—a large language model. Think of this model as an incredibly well-read librarian who has read nearly everything on the internet and has practiced predicting the next likely word in a sentence millions of times. When you speak to the device, it turns your audio into text, runs it through this model to figure out how to respond, and then converts the text answer back into a natural-sounding voice. Because it is portable, the device uses sensors and cameras to understand its environment. To make the AI feel more present, the device incorporates moving parts that shift when the assistant is processing information or speaking, providing a visual cue similar to how a human turns their head toward you when you start a conversation.

The tech industry has spent years trying to make home assistants feel like genuine companions rather than robotic question-answering machines. By creating a physical, premium object, OpenAI is testing whether people want to invite a more human-like, conversational AI into their personal spaces. However, the high price tag presents a real challenge. History shows that consumers are often hesitant to pay a premium for smart speakers that offer only minor improvements over the cheap, reliable options already sitting on their kitchen counters. If OpenAI wants this device to be more than a conversation piece, it will have to prove that talking to an AI in your home can offer value that your smartphone simply cannot provide.