OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar described trying the company’s hardware device as “very natural” and “very lovable,” but she would not confirm whether it’s an earpiece when pressed by an interviewer at the Liquity Summit in California. OpenAI has stayed tight-lipped ab
When Sarah Friar tried OpenAI’s much-speculated hardware device, she didn’t reach for technical language first. She reached for emotion.
Speaking during a live interview at the Liquity Summit in California, the OpenAI CFO described what it felt like to use the company’s closely guarded device: “It feels very natural, but it feels very lovable,” Friar said.
The tone changed when the co-hosts of the “All-In Podcast” pressed her on whether the device led by Jony Ive is an earpiece. Friar answered with a joke that underscored how tight the company’s secrecy remains. “If I tell you it’s an earpiece, Jony will come and steal my teenage son,” she said. “I might give him to him.”.
Friar went on to describe a more visceral reaction to the device itself. “What Johnny and team are really good at is bringing humanity to devices,” she said. “I don’t really know how to explain that well, but when you see it, you feel it.”
OpenAI has remained largely mum about what the device will be, and that silence has fed speculation online. In February, OpenAI moved quickly to deny a purportedly leaked ad featuring actor Alexander Skarsgård. The ad showed an orb-shaped device and earbuds. which OpenAI called “totally fake.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman later said the device is not a phone. ending one line of speculation.
Friar did offer more grounded detail on timing. She said she has already tried the device and pointed to a concrete window for unveiling it: “by the end of this year,” OpenAI will reveal the device.
That expectation contrasts with an earlier company statement. OpenAI previously said in a legal filing that it did not expect to ship the device until February 2027.
The hardware push traces back to OpenAI’s deal for Ive’s AI hardware startup. In May 2025, OpenAI announced it was buying IO, Ive’s AI hardware startup, for roughly $6.5 billion. Altman and Ive have also said they are working on a “family of AI products.”
Design, Friar suggested, is central to how the device should land with consumers. “Technology can be very mechanistic, but we all know great design just makes everything fade away, right?” she said, adding “the simple is hard.”
Altman has described the goal even more bluntly. Altman and Ive have said they want consumers to find the device so irresistible that they want to eat it. Friar’s remarks echoed that mindset through the language of feel and intimacy. Earlier. Altman told the story of that design ambition during an onstage event with Ive in November. saying. “I remember he said once early on. we’ll know we have the design right?” He added. “I don’t remember whether he said. when you want to lick it or take a bite out of it. or something like that.”.
OpenAI Sarah Friar Jony Ive hardware device earpiece Liquity Summit All-In Podcast Sam Altman IO startup $6.5 billion acquisition AI hardware Alexander Skarsgård leaked ad February 2027 shipping timeline end of this year unveil