We’ll need to wait a little longer for OpenAI to introduce its future AI hardware

The company wants its future device to be more intuitive, which may be causing the development delay.

This year, OpenAI acquired io, an AI startup created by Apple’s ex-chief design officer, Jony Ive.

The companies entered the partnership with the goal of designing a new type of artificial intelligence device, with a release date planned for next year. They hope to offer a new generation of smart assistants rivaling Amazon’s Alexa or Echo.

The device, designed to respond to requests, would be a screenless gadget that fits into a user’s palm and can gather audio and visual information from its environment.

However, it’s been reported that the creators are facing some crucial issues that could delay the release of the new device.

With Ive already taking care of the hardware department, the issues currently affecting the project may be related to the gadget’s software and the system needed for it to work.

The company still needs to determine what kind of “personality” its assistant would have, consider possible privacy issues, and evaluate how much it will cost to run OpenAI’s models on these devices, reports the Financial Times.

While already available AI assistants are summoned through a voice command or a prompt, OpenAI’s future gadget could work by gathering the information around it at all times, as if building its own memory.

However, this raises privacy issues, making it harder for the device to understand when a user actually needs it or when it’s just being intrusive.

The deal between OpenAI and Jony Ive hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing from the very beginning.

The company first announced that it would acquire the io Products startup in May, with the $6.5 billion deal finalized in July.

Nevertheless, during the acquisition process, Ive’s company was involved in a trademark dispute with iyO, a company known for its AI-powered device.

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