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OpenAI Targets 100 Million AI Device Shipments in Record Time After $6.5 Billion Deal 46

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees Wednesday the company plans to ship 100 million AI "companion" devices as part of what he called "the chance to do the biggest thing we've ever done as a company here," according to WSJ.

Speaking at an internal meeting, Altman said the $6.5 billion acquisition of former Apple designer Jony Ive's startup has the potential to add $1 trillion in value to OpenAI. The pocket-sized, screen-free devices will be contextually aware of users' surroundings and designed to help wean people from traditional screens.

Altman said the device will not be a phone or glasses, but rather a third core device that would sit on a desk alongside a MacBook Pro and iPhone. The company aims to ship the devices "faster than any company has ever shipped 100 million of something new before," with a target release of late next year.

OpenAI Targets 100 Million AI Device Shipments in Record Time After $6.5 Billion Deal More | Reply

OpenAI Targets 100 Million AI Device Shipments in Record Time After $6.5 Billion Deal

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  • This is only because literally every single freaking device has the words AI slapped on it. It's about as meaningful as blast processing on the Sega Genesis. I had to buy a new phone and it's got a dumb little quick search option that they re-labeled AI.

  • The numbers on this (Score:5, Insightful)

    by wakeboarder ( 2695839 ) on Thursday May 22, 2025 @10:19AM (#65395639)

    Don't make sense. They are suggesting that this device will become the next Apple. Which is possible, but that means this device will have to become the next cellphone, and only open AI will be in the AI device market. This is also assuming that people would want to carry a third device outside of their cell phone, and that the cell phone companies would not build in AI capability into a cell phone. The most obvious place for AI device is in a cell phone.

    But you can tell whatever you want to investors and at this point they'll put whatever money they have into anything new.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by HiThere ( 15173 )

      No, that's NOT what he's suggesting. He's suggesting something "different" from everything we're currently using. He's just not being very specific about "different in what way?" or "why would we want it?".

      I *suspect* that he's talking about some sort of AI based personal assistant, but I can't tell from the summary (and probably couldn't tell if I bothered to read the story).

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Probably. Market chance? Zero. Mobile phones already very nicely fit what people want.

        • We are in the world of opinion here, but, I agree with that. I think the mobile phone form factor, can be used with one hand, fits in pocket, is a proven popular winner. We've watched Alexa and Hey Google's aspirations as a gateway to buying things crash and burn. There are niche applications for voice control, as many will argue here, but spoken language is ... vague... and low bandwidth... the computer of Star Trek won't be happening until at least the 25th century, imho.

          But Hey! Someone has to flush tril

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by gweihir ( 88907 )

            The real problem is that in the "computer" space, most things are lies, misdirection, fantasies and crappy products these days. The only good things are not even products, they are FOSS. I think this whole mess is headed for something cataclysmic in the next 10-20 years.

            • no disagreement here...especially about FOSS... one thing that Jony has right though. People do love hardware. Nice rounded, shiny, and a little heavy feeling. Apple sells hardware, I'm told. They're probably thinking along those lines... because when you get right down to it, people don't really know the difference between hardware and software. So if you make it a gadget, people relate to it better than the abstractness of software. Hardware. You hold it. Touch it. Press buttons. If you're mad, you can f

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by gweihir ( 88907 )

                Hehehe, no bet. My take is you are completely right. May still fail to sell, because while people do not get hardware vs. software, they sort-of get "app that you can download". Also, Apple has its cult followers where owning Apple stuff is a significant factor in feeling good. No other vendor has really achieved that.

      • No, that's NOT what he's suggesting. He's suggesting something "different" from everything we're currently using. He's just not being very specific about "different in what way?"

        Well, he has Jony Ive on board, so I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it is going to be a white rectangle with rounded corners.

      • An AI assistant belongs in a cellphone

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by vlad30 ( 44644 )
      Jony is not Steve say what you want about People like Steve Jobs or Elon Musk but they see where the future is before most do Jobs saw the potential at each stage of each product and saw what was needed to make something work and had enough technical knowledge to know who he needed to make it happen Jony Ive is brilliant from what I have seen so far he has built what others (mainly Jobs) told him to build from the big picture they could see. Musk similar to Jobs looks at the big picture and has been picking

  • Name one reason why people would need an extra device that needs to be recharged every 24 hours when almost everyone has a smartphone nowadays. And it will likely be extremely limited compared to any half-decent smartphone.

    This entire project is going to be a total flop.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      even better - this will never happen. the device isnt real, it has no purpose and its technology doesnt exist.

      this is just a paid for article to get people talking about Sam Alt.. I mean OpenAI again since theyve been quiet recently.

    • It would have been a much cheaper and better option to partner with companies like Samsung or Xiaomi to replace Gemini as the core AI service. Or even Apple considering their AI division has been floundering.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Or even Apple considering their AI division has been floundering.

        Hahaha, no. Apple LLMs are not "flondering". The problem Apple has is that they want real, proven and verifiable quality in their systems and devices. That does not always work out, but LLMs are so bad that Apple just cannot make them work. "Bad product" companies like Microsoft have no trouble with pushing Artificial Incometence systems of the LLM variant.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Indeed. Except that the asshole Altman will probably manahge to move some of that money into his own pocket, directly or indirectly.

  • With the crazy tax breaks from don the buffoon and lack of any rationality in the so-called markets, we'll see multi trillion dollar valuations soon enough. The only question is what will the dollar be worth then.

  • Segway marketing team (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ManicMechanic ( 238107 ) on Thursday May 22, 2025 @10:31AM (#65395677)

    Complete lack of details about what problem this device solves for the consumer. From the story it seems to be a box full of spyware and sensors to gain even more granularity about your life to sell. I don't see how a device that you can't explain the benefit of will be a commercial success.

  • People have screens to watch videos, take videos, browse. Remove the screen and you've just emasculated the device. And that's before considering the horrific privacy implications of allowing something fundamentally awful prying into your personal life, your emails and everything else.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      emasculate? so all those headless servers are female and every laptop is male? what are we doing here people, we need to shut down the internet until we can figure out what the hell is going on

  • Who is this for? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ThumpBzztZoom ( 6976422 ) on Thursday May 22, 2025 @10:45AM (#65395709)

    It's a device with a processor, storage, microphone, speaker,and camera that sits on your desk with two other devices that have the same things plus a screen and tactile inputs. The other two devices have zero problem accessing or running AI models, and have the added benefit of not needing to verbally summarize pictures, videos, or charts. The user would have the same painful experience of a telephone interactive voice response when selecting from a list. What purpose would this serve? Who, other than AI fanboys, would want this?

  • Did anyone ask for this? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BeaverCleaver ( 673164 ) on Thursday May 22, 2025 @10:57AM (#65395741)

    Did anyone ask for *any* of this "AI" shit?

    Show me where a customer said "oh yes, fire your humans who serve customers and ram this customer service bot down our throats instead."

    Show me where a customer said "no, I don't want results for the thing I searched for, I want some bullshit from predictive text instead."

    • Did anyone ask for *any* of this "AI" shit?

      Yes, shareholders.

      It's very rude of you to not consider the needs of the upper class and global elite.

  • "the device won’t be a phone, and that Ive and Altman’s intent is to help wean users off of screens. Altman said the device also isn’t a pair of glasses, and that Ive had been skeptical about building something to wear on the body."

    So the device is going to sit in your pocket or on your desk and yet be "fully aware of a user’s surroundings and life". That would be a clever trick.

    "would be a third core device a person would put on their desk after a MacBook Pro and an iPhone"

    So you'll

    • "would be a third core device a person would put on their desk after a MacBook Pro and an iPhone"

      Sounds like a third device that I would never buy.

  • SpaceX is faster at shipping units (Score:5, Funny)

    by VaccinesCauseAdults ( 7114361 ) on Thursday May 22, 2025 @11:01AM (#65395759)

    The company aims to ship the devices "faster than any company has ever shipped 100 million of something new before

    SpaceX shipped 100 million pieces of new rocket debris into the Atlantic in a couple of minutes. I doubt OpenAI can beat that.

  • Who wouldn't want to pay a subscription for 24/7 surveillance with all your personal data in some corporate cloud storage? /s

    • Who wouldn't want to pay a subscription for 24/7 surveillance with all your personal data in some corporate cloud storage? /s

      Indeed. Especially when so many people already have smartphones and Windows computers with Recall.

      Why would anyone pay to duplicate those "services"? Unless you want to pay someone to make additional backups - which you don't have access to - of the personal data they've stolen from you...

  • LOL (Score:2)

    by reanjr ( 588767 )

    Jony Ive has built quite a brand for himself riding the coattails of Steve Jobs. His actual value contribution is pretty limited. OpenAI gonna do what OpenAI gonna do, but if they think Jony Ive is going to make a device rollout successful, it will be fun to watch them learn that he has little actual value.

  • I already have a mobile, networked computing device, my phone. I do not need to lug around another one. And LLMs crap will certainly not make any appearance on my device either.

  • "We’re not going to ship 100 million devices literally on day one"
    You literally need to up your game Sam.

    "faster than any company has ever shipped 100 million of something new before"
    And then process 100 million returns faster than any company when they all brick themselves because they weren't properly tested.

  • I, for one, welcome my new AI overlord flower pot.

  • This device seems like it's just another iteration of the home devices like the Echo that have had middling success.

    What is this going to do to distinguish itself? Tel you the weather before you even ask?

    Ives is cool and all but he's not a god, he can't change fundamental demand.

  • It doesn't take brains to get rich. It takes sociopathy and some luck. Then these dumbshits think they're fucking geniuses.

    Then they step in shit, rub it all over themselves, and say, "See how pretty I am? See how great I smell?"

    And the sycophants not their heads.

    And we all pay the price for the billionaires' hubris.

  • "Altman said the goal is to release a device by late next year." Eighteen months is always the perfect timeframe for BS and hype. It's close enough that people who want to believe, or are easily persuadable will tell themselves "that's real soon!" and act (and buy) accordingly. But it is simultaneously far enough out that there is plenty of time for "no one could have seen this coming!" delays or changes in the overall economic climate. Alternatively, it is also far enough that if Altman just stops talking

  • At this stage, it sounds like money laundering amongst the ultra rich.

  • How is it going to both "sit on a desk alongside a MacBook Pro and iPhone" and at the same time "wean users off of screens"?

    If it sits alongside two other devices it is like to be forgotten, left at home on the charger.

    Without a screen it will be very limited in use. People can quietly get information from a screen without annoying people near them too much, and without telling everyone around them what they are doing.

    I predict this will quietly die like many prior offerings that were not thought
  • Honestly, I would like less devices in my life, not more. I already have to carry, charge, take care and keep track of my: phone, watch, laptop. I would like my phone to replace my laptop someday and I'm encouraged by the recent developments in desktop mode in Android and wish that comes to the iPhone as well soon enough. What I DON'T WANT is yet another device :)

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