Watch out, Amazon Echo – OpenAI’s rumoured smart speaker could have a camera

OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, is reportedly working on its own line of hardware, and we’ve just found a new report about its potential smart home devices that could have Amazon Echo, Apple and Google worried.

We initially reported on the rumours about an OpenAI device designed by Jony Ive, but at the time, we only heard about a potential release date of 2027 and not what the actual product would be. Now, it’s been revealed via The Information that OpenAI has over 200 people working on smart devices, including a smart speaker, lamp and glasses.

Having covered smart home on T3 for a few years now, I’m most excited about the smart speaker. According to the new report, the OpenAI smart speaker is expected to arrive first in early 2027, and while we don’t have a name or what it’ll look like, the OpenAI smart speaker has been described as having a built-in camera.

The camera within the speaker is designed to gather information about its users and their surroundings, and identify objects. The OpenAI smart speaker will also recognise people’s faces and allow them to purchase things, a feature that’s similar to Apple’s Face ID.

The OpenAI smart speaker is expected to monitor the user's behaviour and like other speakers and smart home devices, it could start to make suggestions and adjustments to suit its user’s schedules. It’s also expected to be priced around $200-$300 which is roughly £150-£225.

As of writing, there aren’t many details about the potential smart glasses and smart lamp that OpenAI has also been reported to be working on. We do have a year-long wait to see what the OpenAI smart speaker could look like, although we’ll likely see a few feature leaks before then.

I’m apprehensive about the OpenAI smart speaker, mainly as I’m not sure how it’ll compete with other offerings on the market. The first Amazon Echo smart speaker came out back in 2014 and since then, it’s been pretty hard to beat so it could struggle with being so late to the game despite being a newer company.

There’s also the matter of AI as while it’s become more normalised, not everyone likes using it. But we’ll just have to wait and see!