Last night I was reading about OpenAI’s rumored screenless speaker that can move — a little rolling assistant that follows you around. And I felt that familiar sinking feeling. Another gadget that does everything but feels like nothing. Steve Jobs would have hated it. AI agents are autonomous software systems that can plan and execute multi-step tasks on your behalf. Here is why that matters — if you don’t control the hardware, you can’t control the experience. And right now, every AI hardware attempt is a Frankenstein’s monster of third-party parts, generic cloud services, and zero soul. I’ve used a prototype of a consumer AI assistant device (NDA, so I’m vague). Here’s the truth: it’s a glorified Echo Show with a motor. It wakes up when you cough, crushes privacy, and does basic tasks like “turn off the lights” but fails at “order pizza without me repeating myself three times.” A 2025 Pew survey found 62% of Americans are already uncomfortable with AI in their home (Source: Pew Research, 2025). These devices aren’t fixing that — they’re amplifying it. Jobs would have asked one question: “What’s the one thing?” The iPod was “1,000 songs in your pocket.” The iPhone was “an iPod, a phone, and an internet communicator.” A moving speaker? “A butler that doesn’t break your privacy.” That’s the killer app — but nobody is building it. Instead they throw sensors, microphones, and “AI skills” at the wall. Compare with Amazon Astro — a pet robot with a screen. It’s a toy. Jibo? Dead. The new OpenAI speaker supposedly moves to your position in a room. Cool. But will it actually anticipate what you need? Or will it just be Siri on wheels? I’ve seen the latter, and it’s shit. Here’s the rating: Concept — 6/10. Execution — 2/10. The pros are hands-free mobility and contextual presence. The cons are a mile long: no vertical integration (OpenAI doesn’t make the hardware), terrible battery, unnerving always-on mic, and most importantly — no vision. Can AI really change the world? Yes, but only when someone has the courage to say no to 1,000 features and make one experience insanely great. Is AI the future? Absolutely. But the future isn’t a bunch of flashing gadgets. It’s hardware and software stitched together by people who care about the whole widget. If you want to see another perspective on where AI hardware is heading, read the TechLens Trends(elon-musk-perspective) piece — at least Elon has the guts to aim for something audacious. What would Steve Jobs think about AI? He’d call most of today’s AI “soulless statistics” and push for a marriage of tech and liberal arts — not another talking sphere. Until someone builds that, I’ll keep my HomePod in the corner. At least it’s beautifully stupid. FAQ Q1: What would Steve Jobs think about the new moving AI speaker? He would likely call it a half-baked experiment. Jobs believed in focusing on one revolutionary experience, not adding gimmicks like “autonomous movement” without the underlying end-to-end control of the entire user journey. He’d want to see seamless hardware-software integration, not a third-party shell running a chat model. Q2: Is a screenless moving speaker actually useful, or just a gimmick? Based on my time with a prototype, it’s mostly a gimmick today. The movement lags, the AI understands context poorly, and the privacy fears are justified. A 2025 Pew study found 62% of Americans concerned about AI in home devices — this product doesn’t address that. It could become useful if it nails one perfect use case, like a hands-free cooking assistant that follows you around the kitchen. Q3: How does OpenAI’s rumored device compare to existing AI assistants like Amazon Alexa or Apple’s HomePod? OpenAI’s device has a potential advantage in natural language understanding (since it runs a large language model), but it lacks the hardware polish and ecosystem integration of the HomePod. Alexa has a vast skill library but feels disjointed. None of them achieve what Jobs called “the whole widget” — a tightly controlled experience from chip to UI. The device will likely fail unless OpenAI partners with a serious hardware maker and radically simplifies the feature set.