The AI Tamagotchis are coming
Sam Altman onstage at OpenAI’s DevDay 2026. | Photo: Hayden Field / The Verge While AI has made plenty of inroads on people's phones and computers, it's largely failed in dedicated devices. But over the next year, two major AI companies, Meta and OpenAI, will attempt to change that. And they're apparently betting on a similar path: testing appetites for physical hardware with their cutesy software agents. "Hardware is hard" is a tech industry mantra. Dedicated AI devices like t
Get smart on it
Two major AI companies are working on dedicated physical devices featuring cute AI agents, marking a new attempt to make consumer AI hardware successful after previous products largely failed. One company is working with a famed ex-Apple designer and plans to ship no earlier than February 2027, while the other aims to launch a pendant-like device before the holiday shopping season. The companies are betting that combining usefulness with appealing, cute software agents will convince people to adopt these devices, despite previous dedicated AI hardware like the Friend and Humane AI Pin having inspired mainly frustration and backlash.
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