OpenAI’s hardware ambitions just got a major boost, and it could be another clue that the company is preparing to take AI beyond smartphones and laptops. Paul Meade, Apple’s longtime engineering leader behind the Vision Pro headset and its upcoming smart glasses efforts, is leaving Cupertino to join OpenAI’s hardware division.

Another Apple hardware veteran joins OpenAI

According to Bloomberg, Meade spent seven years leading hardware engineering for the Vision Pro and also oversaw Apple’s display-free smart glasses project that’s expected to compete with Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses. His team was also involved in future augmented reality glasses and several AI-focused wearable projects, making him one of Apple’s most experienced hardware executives in the emerging wearables space.

At OpenAI, Meade will join an increasingly familiar cast of former Apple executives. He’ll work alongside legendary designer Jony Ive, former Apple design chief Evans Hankey, and former iPhone operations executive Tang Tan, all of whom are now helping build OpenAI’s next generation of AI hardware. That team came together after OpenAI acquired Ive’s startup, io, in a deal worth $6.5 billion, signaling that the company is investing heavily in dedicated AI devices rather than treating ChatGPT as just another app.

Neither Apple nor OpenAI has revealed exactly what these devices will look like. However, Bloomberg notes that OpenAI is already working on “several new devices” expected to launch over the next few years, while Apple is simultaneously developing smart glasses, AI-enabled AirPods with cameras, tabletop robots, and other AI-centric hardware of its own.

Could ChatGPT hardware be closer than we think?

Let’s be real, Meade’s move doesn’t confirm that OpenAI is building AI glasses, so it’s worth treating the speculation with caution. But hiring the executive who helped lead Apple’s Vision Pro and smart glasses hardware certainly strengthens the theory that OpenAI is assembling the talent needed for wearable AI, especially after bringing Jony Ive and several other former Apple veterans into its hardware team.

The funny thing is that this is starting to feel less like an AI chatbot race and more like a wearables race. Meta already has smart glasses on the market, Apple is reportedly preparing its own, and OpenAI is quietly building an all-star hardware team. Whether that leads to AI glasses, a wearable pendant, or something like an OpenAI ear wearable remains to be seen, but the company’s ambitions clearly extend far beyond ChatGPT on a screen.