- A new leak says OpenAI is making a wearable to take on Apple’s AirPods
- The device is codenamed ‘Sweetpea’ and works like an earbud for ChatGPT
- It’ll supposedly sit behind your ear, not inside it
OpenAI might be best known for its ChatGPT chatbot, but we also know that the artificial intelligence (AI) pioneer has teamed up with former Apple design guru Jony Ive to develop a set of wearable products – supposedly including an AI-powered pen – all driven by its AI algorithms. Now, a fresh revelation has shed light on exactly what OpenAI could be cooking up in its secret labs.
That’s because a new leak on X has revealed a mysterious new OpenAI device codenamed ‘Sweetpea.’ This is allegedly a behind-the-ear wearable that’s powered by AI and aimed squarely at taking on Apple’s popular AirPods earphones.
However, don’t expect them to look like your standard set of in-ear headphones. Instead, the leaker – who goes by the moniker Smart Pikachu – claims that much of each Sweetpea module will be worn behind your ear. That might make them more closely resemble a set of hearing aids than a traditional pair of earphones.
The behind-the-ear segment could include the product’s battery and processor, with the benefit that positioning them this way might enable the use of a larger battery. Considering the AI device will always be on and ready to assist you, longer time on one charge could be a real selling point.
Aside from that, Smart Pikachu says that Sweetpea will feature a custom chip to “replace iPhone actions by commanding Siri.” The timing is fortuitous, as Apple has just brought Google Gemini on board to help power the upcoming AI overhaul of Siri, meaning this could be another way that Apple’s virtual assistant gains new functionality in the future.
And as suggested by Wareable, the Sweetpea image that Smart Pikachu included contained references to an ‘ultrasonic transmitter’ and signal pickup sensors. This, Wareable notes, means that the device “could offer environmental sensing or contextual awareness, rather than just acting as a passive Bluetooth receiver for ChatGPT.”
When might we see Sweetpea? Smart Pikachu reckons the release date will be “near September” 2026, with 40-50 million units expected to be shipped. That’s an ambitious target for OpenAI’s first-ever wearable, but given the success of ChatGPT, it might be possible.
But be warned, as the leaker states that the price could be high. That’s because the price of Sweetpea’s materials and components is close to the cost of a smartphone, with the added factor that its “device function [are] said to be stronger.”
Still, Sweetpea lines up with a trend we noticed at CES 2026, where increasing numbers of companies were pushing AI-first wearables as the next big thing. Perhaps OpenAI’s Sweetpea project will finally be the device to make the breakthrough and take these products mainstream.
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alexblake.techradar@gmail.com (Alex Blake)
