OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said it’s hard to describe what it feels like to use the company’s closely-guarded AI hardware device.
“It feels very natural, but it feels very lovable,” Friar said during a live interview at the “All-In Podcast” team’s Liquity Summit in California.
When the co-hosts of the “All-In” podcast pressed her on whether Jony Ive-led device is an earpiece, she joked about the legendary iPhone designer’s potential response.
“If I tell you it’s an earpiece, Jony will come and steal my teenage son,” Friar said. “I might give him to him.”
Friar described a visceral reaction to using the device.
“What Johnny and team are really good at is bringing humanity to devices,” she said. “I don’t really know how to explain that well, but when you see it, you feel it.”
OpenAI has remained largely mum about what the device will be, leading to rampant speculation online. In February, OpenAI quickly denounced a purportedly leaked ad featuring actor Alexander Skarsgård that showed an orb-shaped device and earbuds as “totally fake.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said the device is not a phone, ending one line of speculation.
What is more certain is the timeline for OpenAI’s launch of its first hardware device. Friar said that she has already tried out the device. She said that by “the end of this year,” OpenAI will unveil the device. Previously, OpenAI said in a legal filing that it did not expect to ship the device until February 2027.
In May 2025, OpenAI announced it was buying Ive’s AI hardware startup, IO, for roughly $6.5 billion. Altman and Ive also said they were working on a “family of AI products.”
Friar said great design can make technology feel different.
“Technology can be very mechanistic, but we all know great design just makes everything fade away, right?” she said, adding “the simple is hard.”
Altman and Ive previously said they want consumers to find the device so irresistible that they want to eat it.
“I remember he said once early on, we’ll know we have the design right?” Altman said in November during an onstage event with Ive. “I don’t remember whether he said, when you want to lick it or take a bite out of it, or something like that.”
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