OpenAI wants to live in your house

The first device from the maker of ChatGPT will be an Amazon Alexa competitor that’s designed to seem…alive, Bloomberg reported this week.Currently in development, the product will be a screenless smart speaker meant to serve as a corporeal vessel for ChatGPT and a companion for you. According to Bloomberg:Set to release next year, the device is equipped with ChatGPT’s latest and most conversational version of Voice Mode, as well as moving “mechanical elements” that are intended to create “a sense that it is alive.” Welcome back, i-Dog.The product also has a camera and sensors to help “understand a user’s surroundings and context,” plus a rechargeable battery that invites you to tote it from room to room.It’ll become more “personalized and proactive” over time by reading your diary digital information, like emails.Speaking of confidential material, last week Apple filed a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of stealing trade secrets through some of the 400+ former Apple employees whom the iPhone maker said defected to OpenAI. The company—which has several former Apple designers and engineers working on its new hardware—denied the accusation.Looking ahead…The smart speaker is one of several devices OpenAI wants to release: The company is also eyeing home robotics, an AI necklace, and a smartphone-like device, per Bloomberg, but Apple’s lawsuit could derail the timeline.—ML