OpenAI is betting big on audio AI, but it’s not just about making ChatGPT sound better. According to a new report from The Information, the company has integrated multiple engineering, product and research teams over the past two months to overhaul its audio model in preparation for audio-first personal devices expected to launch in about a year.
The move reflects where the entire tech industry is headed: a future where screens are background noise and audio takes center stage. Smart speakers have already installed voice assistants in more than a third of American homes. Meta has announced a feature for its Ray-Ban smart glasses that uses a five-microphone array to help you hear conversations in noisy rooms. This essentially turns your face into a directional listening device. Meanwhile, Google began experimenting with Audio Overviews in June to turn search results into conversation summaries, and Tesla is integrating xAI’s Grok chatbot into its vehicles to create a conversational voice assistant that handles everything from navigation to climate control through natural interactions.
It’s not just the tech giants making this bet. A wide variety of startups have emerged with the same beliefs, albeit with varying degrees of success. The makers of the Humane AI Pin racked up hundreds of millions of dollars in sales before screenless wearables sounded the alarm. The Friend AI pendant is a necklace that claims to record your life and provide companionship, but it has raised privacy concerns and existential dread in equal measure. And now, at least two companies, including one led by Sandbar and Pebble founder Eric Migikowski, are developing AI rings, set to debut in 2026, that will allow wearers to literally talk to their hands.
The form factors may be different, but the argument is the same: audio is the interface of the future. Every space is becoming a control surface: your home, your car, even your face.
OpenAI’s new audio model, scheduled for early 2026, will reportedly sound more natural, handle interruptions like a real conversation partner, and allow you to speak during a conversation, something today’s models can’t do. The company is also said to be envisioning a family of devices that would function more like companions than tools, possibly including glasses and screenless smart speakers.
None of this is all that surprising. The Information notes that former Apple design chief Jony Ive, who joined OpenAI’s hardware efforts when the company acquired his company io for $6.5 billion in May, saw audio-first design as an opportunity to “right the wrongs” of past consumer gadgets, and has made reducing device addiction a top priority.
