OpenAI plans to bring Gen AI-powered earbuds called 'Dime'

Last year in May, OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman and former Apple product design veteran Jony Ive announced a collaboration to launch generative Artificial Intelligence (gen AI)-centric hardware.

Later in July 2025, Ive's io Products, Inc.'s engineering and design teams officially merged with OpenAI. Though the company will be deeply involved with OpenAI's device design, it will remain independent.

Early rumours indicated that OpenAI may bring a smart wearable, similar to voice-centric Humane AI Pin. There won't be a camera or a display, but just a set of mics and a speaker. It will just respond to queries.

Now, a popular tipster who goes by the moniker Smart Pikachu on Weibo (the Chinese equivalent of X platform) has revealed that OpenAI is buiding a smart earbuds, and is most likely to be called 'Dime'.

The plan to bring smaller earphones was necessitated by supply constraints and rising costs of the chipsets.

OpenAI's device will be powered by an advanced 2nm class chipset.

Given the fact that Jony Ive is heading the hardware development, be assured that OpenAI's upcoming device will be unique and visually pleasing, most importantly, ergonomic. It will be able to hang on to the ears firmly and can be worn for long listening sessions without irritation.

It is expected to be unveiled by the end of 2026 and most likely to hit stores in early 2027.

When the prices of semicondutors and storage stabilise, the company will be better position to handle operational costs and foray in to more product categories.

In a related development, OpenAI recently launched the Codex AI app, a dedicated version for Mac computers.

The all-new Codex app, which runs the latest GPT 5.2 model, supports more complex use cases and also acts as a command centre for more advanced AI agents.

OpenAI's Codex app also comes with the 'skills' option. Users can seamlessly extend Codex's AI Agents' scope of work beyond code generation to tasks that require gathering and synthesising information, problem-solving, writing, and more.

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