OpenAI's first AI device with Jony Ive won't be a wearable
Thanks to a related trademark lawsuit, we know what OpenAI and Jony Ive's first AI device won't be.
In court filings submitted this month, leaders from io — the consumer hardware team OpenAI recently acquired from Jony Ive's design studio for $6.5 billion — testified that the first device they plan to release won't be an 'in-ear device' or a 'wearable.' They also say the AI device won't ship until 'at least' 2026.
'The prototype Sam Altman referenced in the video is at least a year away from being offered for sale,' Tang Tan, io's chief hardware officer and a former Apple design leader, said in a June 16th declaration. 'Its design is not yet finalized, but it is not an in-ear device, nor a wearable device.'
Over the weekend, OpenAI was forced to remove public references to the io brand (which stands for 'input/output') due to a temporary restraining order that was granted on behalf of an audio device startup called Iyo. To support its case that OpenAI willfully infringed on its trademark, Iyo provides emails showing that leaders from io and OpenAI, including CEO Sam Altman, knew about its existence and even asked to demo the product — a yet-to-be-released, in-ear headphone billed as 'the world's first audio computer.'
'For many months after its founding, io surveyed the existing commercial offerings and engaged in prototyping exercises, as it considered a broad range of form factors, including objects that were desktop-based and mobile, wireless and wired, wearable and portable,' reads OpenAI's June 12th opposition to Iyo's lawsuit. 'As part of these early efforts, io purchased a wide range of earbuds, hearing aids, and at least 30 different headphone sets from a variety of different companies.' (TechCrunch's Maxwell Zeff first reported on the court documents.)
'thanks but im working on something competitive so will respectfully pass!'
While Tan's declaration states that io's first piece of hardware won't be an 'in-ear device,' it's clear from the evidence submitted in the case that io and OpenAI have considered the category. In one email from late March, an io employee named Marwan Rammah told Tang that they should consider buying 3D scans of human ears 'as a helpful starting point on ergonomics and HF.' And in another email earlier that month, Altman responded to Iyo's offer to personally invest in the company by writing: 'thanks but im working on something competitive so will respectfully pass!'
I'd love to chat. You can reach me securely and anonymously on Signal.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
U.S. Oil Producers Rushed to Hedge… Just in Time
U.S. oil producers flocked to hedge higher prices for their output for the rest of the year and early into 2026 as international crude oil prices surged earlier this month. Early on June 13 local time, Israel attacked Iranian nuclear facilities and military leadership in coordinated strikes that sent oil prices surging amid concerns that an escalating conflict could disrupt oil flows from the Middle East. On the night of June 12 and the following morning, Texas-based Aegis Hedging Solutions – a company with a platform for oil producers' hedging – registered its highest-ever number of hedge trades, Aegis Hedging's president Matt Marshall told Bloomberg. U.S. shale producers, who were under-hedged going into this spring, saw a major opportunity to lock in higher prices for the next few months as WTI crude prices surged out of the high $50s - low $60s per barrel price range and hit the $75 mark last week. Oil prices had lingered into the low $60s for the three months between early April and early June, as the U.S. tariff blitz and the OPEC+ production hikes weighed on market sentiment with fears of of March, a survey by Standard Chartered of 40 independent U.S. oil and gas companies revealed they had little protection, with a 2025 oil hedge ratio of just 21% for their combined 5.03 million barrels per day (bpd) of production and a 2026 hedge ratio of just 4%. To compare, the U.S. shale industry entered 2020 with an oil hedge ratio of 51.7%, which provided significant support when oil prices collapsed during the pandemic. As of the end of 2024, independent North American oil and gas producers had more than 80% of their first-half 2025 oil production unhedged, leaving them exposed as OPEC+ supply hikes and concerns about a global recession weighed on the market, data from Evaluate Energy showed in April. Hedging activity, however, spiked on June 12-13 to a record high on the Aegis Hedging platform as producers rushed to lock in higher prices in the short term amid the geopolitics-driven jump in WTI prices. Such war premium-related spikes in oil prices tend to lift the front of the futures curve more than contracts further out in time, unlike in price jumps related to fundamentals. In the case with the Middle East conflict, the hedging strategy was geared more toward the short term, Aegis Hedging says. 'In this case it was probably a six-month effect,' Aegis Hedging's Marshall told Reuters. 'Producers recognized that this could be a fleeting issue and so they saw a price that was above their budget for the first time in a few months, and instead of doing a structure that would give them a floor which is below market, they opted to be aggressive and lock in,' Marshall added. U.S. oil and gas executives polled in the Dallas Fed Energy Survey in Q1 indicated that their companies need an average $65 per barrel to profitably drill a new well. Oil companies that hedged production probably did so just in time. The tentative ceasefire between Iran and Israel, which was announced by U.S. President Donald Trump as "complete and total," has deflated the geopolitical risk premium and brought WTI oil back to $65 per barrel, roughly the level where it traded at before the Israeli strike on Iran. By Tsvetana Paraskova for More Top Reads From this article on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Bloomberg
Pressure to Seal Trump Trade Deals Ramps Up With Two Weeks to Go
Two weeks from President Donald Trump's self-imposed deadline to reach deals with the US's major trading partners, some of the most-watched talks aimed at clinching agreements to avoid higher tariffs are struggling to get over the finish line. There's a lot at stake: As of July 9, exporting nations without a bilateral accord in place will face Trump's so-called 'Liberation Day' tariffs that are much higher than the current baseline 10% level applied to most countries.
Android Authority
an hour ago
- Android Authority
Your Android phone could soon buzz when your Fitbit is charged (APK teardown)
Hadlee Simons / Android Authority TL;DR An Android Authority teardown has revealed that your Android phone could soon get a notification when your Fitbit is fully charged. This would come years after Android owners first requested this feature, while iPhone owners have had this option for a long time. This would still be a great addition to the Fitbit app, as you don't have to constantly check to see if your tracker is charged. Google recently updated the Fitbit app with an overhauled Device Settings page, bringing it in line with the Pixel Watch app. It looks like the company isn't stopping here, as it's also working on a long-requested feature. Authority Insights story on Android Authority. Discover You're reading anstory on Android Authority. Discover Authority Insights for more exclusive reports, app teardowns, leaks, and in-depth tech coverage you won't find anywhere else. An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release. We conducted a teardown of the Fitbit app for Android (version and discovered that it could soon display a notification on your Android phone when your Fitbit device is fully charged. Check out the strings below. Need to include code? Paste it and then swap from the VISUAL to the TEXT version of the WP editor and wrap the code as below: Code Copy Text Reminders when your device is fully charged Full batteryThis is some properly formatted code. Swap to the text editor to see the HTML. This would be a helpful addition to the Fitbit app, as it means you don't have to constantly check the tracker or watch to see if it's fully charged. It's also been a long-requested feature, with users asking for this option for years now. What's particularly disappointing is that iPhones already had this feature back then. So Android owners have been missing out for a long time. This notification option would complement the Fitbit app's ability to send a Low battery alert to your Android phone, letting you know when you need to charge your tracker/watch. In any event, there's no word on when we'll see this full battery notification option come to the Android app, but we hope it's sooner rather than later. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
