OpenAI is now reportedly considering making ChatGPT glasses, despite CEO Sam Altman’s public rejection of the form factor.
Outside the Sun Valley Conference, back in July, Altman took questions from the press while wearing a pair of white sunglasses with strangely thick temples. When asked “are you wearing smart glasses? are these smart glasses?”, he replied “no, absolutely not, I don’t like smart glasses”.
Sam Altman: “I don’t like smart glasses”.
The response came two months after OpenAI formally announced it was getting into hardware, acquiring veteran Apple designer Jony Ive’s hardware startup io and signing a partnership with his design studio LoveFrom.
OpenAI hasn’t yet said what exactly its first device will be, but The Wall Street Journal reported at the time of the deal that Altman specifically told OpenAI staff that it would be a screenless pocket-sized device, and specifically that it would not be glasses or any other wearable.
Now, The Information reports that OpenAI is poaching design, manufacturing and supply chain staff from Apple to build “a whole line” of devices.
According to the report, OpenAI is working on a smart speaker, in addition to its pocket-sized device, and has “considered” making glasses, a digital voice recorder and a wearable pin.
Michael Abrash on how future glasses will deliver always-on contextual AI.
OpenAI’s first traditional devices aren’t expected to arrive until late 2026 or 2027, so if the company does decide to make glasses, a launch would likely be many years off.
During his Connect 2025 talk, Meta’s Michael Abrash described how future smart glasses with always-on sensing will deliver spatial “contextual AI”, providing both proactive advice and direct questions about your life. If the rapid rate of adoption of smart glasses continues, it could become one of the primary form factors for AI by the time OpenAI launches, giving Meta, Google, and Apple significant advantages and leaving OpenAI badly behind.
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Could Altman’s initial rejection of the form factor turn out to be his biggest mistake?
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