ChatGPT that you wear behind your ear? Maybe. OpenAI is reportedly developing its first AI-powered device and will unveil it in the second half of the year, Axios reported on Monday.

Chris Lehane, OpenAI's chief global affairs officer, said at Axios House Davos that the devices will be "among the big coming attractions for OpenAI in 2026," the site reported. Lehane said the company hopes to introduce the new products in the latter part of the year, but did not provide any details about the device or when it would be available for purchase.

A representative for OpenAI didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET's parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

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If an earlier leak also proves true, the ChatGPT-powered device will be worn right behind your ear.

According to a leak earlier this month from @zhihuipikachu, a consumer-electronics blogger, the OpenAI device coming later this year will be a rival to Apple's AirPods and will consist of two pill-shaped gadgets that rest behind the ear. They will be metallic and stored inside an egg-shaped case. The leak said to expect the initial launch around September 2026, but also said there would be a total of five devices (released) by the fourth quarter of 2028.

Whatever the new device is, it will be the inevitable creation of a company that set its sights on developing AI-powered hardware from the moment it bought tech design company IO for $6.5 billion in May 2025. IO was founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and others to develop hardware products heavily integrated with AI. At the time, speculation was that OpenAI and former IO designers would collaborate to create an AI-powered smartphone.

In November, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Ive said they had developed a prototype for a screenless device that could filter out "digital noise" and avoid sending constant notifications and alerts. This device would rely on ambient intelligence, learn from its surroundings and provide spatial awareness, all while operating quietly in the background.

Altman said the device would be "simple, beautiful and playful," but did not offer details about what it would be.

Like the Star Trek ship's computer?

University of Washington Information School professor Chirag Shah said this type of ambient computing has been around before, "except that the tech so far has lacked the 'wow' factor." 

OpenAI's new device could be different.

"The idea is quite appealing -- technology that is embedded in your environment that you don't even notice, but is always there to help you," Shah told CNET. "There are lots of sci-fi incarnations of this that we have seen over the years and decades -- Samantha in Her, J.A.R.V.I.S. in Iron Man and the ship's computer in Star Trek. All of them have one thing in common -- we can interact with them in natural language using our voice. I believe OpenAI is looking to bring something like that to mass market."

While the new OpenAI device sounds intriguing, it could be a "risky proposition," Shah says.

"Will people want, and pay for, yet another device? What about the usual concerns like privacy and intrusive behaviors, especially in public spaces?" Shah says. "And if Apple and others could bring the AI part to their existing devices like AirPods or Meta with AR glasses, what's the differentiating factor?"

ChatGPT, launched in 2022 by OpenAI, is an AI assistant designed to accomplish a wide variety of tasks, such as creating documents, translating languages, answering questions and more. It and similar products are rapidly moving into a wide range of tech products and everyday devices, including smart earbuds and wearables. Companies are racing to embed conversational AI into products of all kinds, sparking both excitement and controversy over privacy, data security and other issues.