OpenAI bets big on audio as Silicon Valley declares war on screens

OpenAI is betting big on audio AI, and it’s not just about making ChatGPT sound better. According to new report According to The Information, the company has unified multiple engineering, product and research teams over the past two months to revise its audio models, all in preparation for a first-of-its-kind personal audio device scheduled to launch in about a year.

The move reflects the direction the entire tech industry is heading: toward a future where screens become background noise and audio takes center stage. Smart speakers have already integrated voice assistants into more than a third of American homes. Just meta deployed a feature for its Ray-Ban smart glasses that use an array of five microphones to help you hear conversations in noisy rooms, essentially turning your face into a directional listening device. Google, for its part, began experimenting in June with “Audio previews” that turn search results into conversational summaries. And Tesla is integrating Grok and other LLMs into its vehicles to create conversational voice assistants that can handle everything from navigation to climate control to natural dialogue.

It’s not just the tech giants making this bet. A motley crew of startups emerged with the same conviction, but with varying degrees of success. The creators of the Humane AI Pin burned hundreds of millions of dollars before their screenless laptop became a cautionary tale. The Friend AI pendant, a necklace that records your life and offers companionship, has sparked privacy concerns and existential fear around the world. equal measure. And now at least two companies, including Sandbank and one led by the founder of Pebble Eric Migicovskyare building AI rings expected to debut in 2026, allowing wearers to literally talk to their hands.

The form factors may differ, but the thesis is the same: audio is the interface of the future. Every space – your house, your car, even your face – becomes an interface.

OpenAI’s new audio model, due in early 2026, would sound more natural, handle interruptions like a real speaker, and even speak while you’re speaking, something current models can’t handle. The company is also reportedly considering a family of devices, possibly including screen-less smart glasses or speakers, that would act less like tools and more like companions.

As The Information notes, former Apple design chief Jony Ive, who joined OpenAI’s hardware efforts via the $6.5 billion acquisition in May from his company io, has made reducing device dependency a priority, seeing audio-focused design as an opportunity to “right the wrongs” of older consumer gadgets.