--- title: "Sam Altman Tells Staff Plan to Ship 100 Million Devices That See Everything in Users’ Lives" description: "OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is teaming up with a famous Apple designer to make wearables that can see your whole life." date: "2025-05-22" modified: "2025-05-22" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/sam-altman-openai-wearable-device" categories: - "Computing" - "Devices" - "Future Society" - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "OpenAI" - "sam altman" - "the digest" - "wearables" --- # Sam Altman Tells Staff Plan to Ship 100 Million Devices That See Everything in Users’ Lives ![OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is teaming up with a famous Apple designer to make wearables that can see your whole life.]() *\Image: Chip Somodevilla / Getty / Futurism\* ## Marriage of Minds OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is teaming up with a famous Apple designer to make wearables that can see your whole life — and he's instructed his staff to ship 100 million of them. As the [*Wall Street Journal* reports](), Altman recently told employees they'll soon be manufacturing the secretive new "AI companion" device with Jony Ive, the [beknighted designer]() behind the iPhone. News of the device comes just after [OpenAI revealed]() that it had purchased Ive's AI company, io, and had been "quietly" collaborating for a few years with his creative collective, LoveFrom. Notably, the company's purchase announcement didn't include its pricetag, but [Altman and Ive told *Bloomberg*]() that it would be worth nearly $6.5 billion. In a recording of the call announcing the purchase that was leaked to the *WSJ*, Altman told employees that the io acquisition will offer everyone involved a "chance to do the biggest thing we’ve ever done as a company." He and Ives then added that the device, which is still in stealth and has not been named, will be unobtrusive, capable of fitting inside a pocket or on a desk, and will be "fully aware" of a user's surroundings and life. The device, as Ives and Altman told OpenAI staff, will not have phone capabilities like an Apple Watch, and according to Ives and Altman, it's intended to help wean its users from their screens. ## History Repeating Though the collab between these tech heavyweights may seem like a match made in Silicon Valley heaven, it's hard to imagine anyone wanting to wear, or even place on their desk, an AI-enabled device that knows everything they're doing — especially in the aftermath of the [Humane AI pin disaster](), which users [returned en masse]() because they hated the bulky $700 wearable so bad. (Notably, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested that the OpenAI-Ive collab device may be "[slightly larger]()" than Humane's bulky offering, which is roughly the size of an Apple Watch face.) It remains unclear whether the device's "awareness" will include recordings, and if so, where such private data will be stored, and we've reached out to OpenAI to ask about those specifics. Regardless of what's going on behind the scenes, however, the whole thing premise is creepily reminiscent of "[The Entire History Of You]()," the infamous "Black Mirror" episode about a near-future ocular implant that records everything a person sees. Apparently, we haven't learned a thing in the 13 years since that episode first aired on British TV. **More on OpenAI projects:** [*OpenAI's Top Scientist Wanted to "Build a Bunker Before We Release AGI"*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()