Openi’s dream of creating a groundbreaking AI gadget with Apple’s prestigious designer Jony Ive is colliding with disturbance. According to a report by the Financial Times, the highly secret project, which is to distribute a palm -shaped device operated by artificial intelligence, struggling to cross a series of technical and design challenges, doubt its planned launch timeline.

Cooperation between Openai and Ive’s design studios occurred earlier this year, when Openai acquired its company, Lovefrom, about $ 6.5 billion. The idea was to create a device that again defines how humans interact with machines, without a screen, which depends entirely on audio and visual signals to respond to its surroundings. While this vision is still standing, people close to development say that the project is away from smooth sailing.

The first major issue lies in computing power. Openai, which already faces high demand for servers running Chatgpt, allegedly lacks the new device to work in real time. A person familiar with the project told FT, “Amazon has calculations for an Alexa, so Google (for his home device), but is struggling to get enough calculations for Openai chat, leave the AI ​​device alone – they need to fix first.” This limit appears to be one of the most pressure bottlenecks, especially the continuous processing of audio and visual data from the device.

Beyond the hardware, the team is also trying to crack the emotional side of artificial intelligence, which they internally call the “personality” of the assistant. The idea is to build a voice assistant that feels like a “auxiliary friend” rather than a robot or a highly individual unit. However, it has been allegedly difficult to find the right tone and interaction style. Developers are asked to experiment with various interactive models that attack the correct balance between the favorable and professional, while the apparent steering of the “weird AI companion” has offered some previous equipment.

Privacy and user experience add another layer of complexity. The upcoming device is asked to operate in “on” mode, to create a form of memory from the user’s environment continuously listening, observation and learning. The choice of that design triggers internal debate how to maintain privacy by offering an easy experience. An inner source told the publication that to ensure that the assistant only speaks when necessary, and knows when to stop is surprisingly difficult to be correct.

The product will allegedly include a camera, microphone and speaker in the size of a smartphone. It is being designed to sit or move around a desk, and its purpose is to feel like the living part of the user, which is always aware but not infiltrated. When Openai first announced the acquisition of Ive’s studio, initial reports indicated that the first device could be launched by 2026. But with a growing list of technical and philosophical challenges, internal sources say the timeline is uncertain.