Another Apple veteran jumps ship to OpenAI’s hardware team
Paul Meade spent seven years at Apple leading hardware engineering for the Vision Pro headset. He also oversaw the company’s display-free smart glasses project — the one meant to take on Meta‘s Ray-Ban smart glasses. Now he’s leaving Cupertino for OpenAI.
Bloomberg broke the news. Meade’s move is the latest in a quiet but unmistakable talent drain from Apple to OpenAI’s hardware division. And it’s a strong signal that the ChatGPT maker isn’t content keeping AI inside a smartphone app.
Meade’s team at Apple worked on future augmented reality glasses and multiple AI-focused wearable projects. He was one of the company’s most senior hardware executives in the emerging wearables space. Losing him is a blow for Apple. Gaining him is a coup for OpenAI.
The all-star team behind OpenAI’s hardware push
Meade won’t be alone. He joins a roster of former Apple heavyweights already building OpenAI’s next-generation AI devices. That list includes legendary designer Jony Ive, former Apple design chief Evans Hankey, and ex-iPhone operations executive Tang Tan.
This group came together after OpenAI acquired Ive’s startup, io, in a deal worth $6.5 billion. That’s not pocket change. It’s a declaration that OpenAI sees dedicated AI hardware — not just an app — as its future.
What exactly are they building? Neither Apple nor OpenAI has revealed specifics. Bloomberg reports that OpenAI is already working on “several new devices” expected over the next few years. Apple, meanwhile, is developing smart glasses, AI-enabled AirPods with cameras, tabletop robots, and other AI-centric hardware.
The two companies are racing in the same direction. But they’re starting from very different places.
Why this looks like a wearables race, not just a chatbot war
Let’s be clear: Meade’s hire doesn’t confirm OpenAI is building AI glasses. It’s worth treating the speculation with caution. But the pattern is hard to ignore.
OpenAI has now assembled a hardware team that could design almost any wearable device. Smart glasses seem like the obvious target. Meta already sells Ray-Ban smart glasses with AI features built in. Apple is reportedly preparing its own pair. And OpenAI is quietly stockpiling the talent to compete.
This is starting to feel less like an AI chatbot race and more like a wearables race. The companies that win the next decade won’t just have the best language model. They’ll have the best device to put it on your face, in your ear, or around your wrist.
What might OpenAI’s first wearable look like?
We don’t know. But we can make educated guesses based on the talent OpenAI has hired.
- AI glasses — The most obvious bet. Meade’s expertise in smart glasses and AR hardware makes this the leading candidate.
- A wearable pendant or pin — Something you clip on your shirt, always listening, always ready to answer questions or take notes.
- An ear wearable — Think AI-powered earbuds with cameras, similar to what Apple is reportedly developing for AirPods.
Whatever form it takes, the goal is the same: make ChatGPT feel natural, always available, and hands-free. A screen in your pocket is fine. A device on your face is better.
OpenAI’s hardware ambitions go far beyond ChatGPT on a screen
The company’s core product today is a chatbot you type into or talk to on your phone. But that’s a temporary arrangement. OpenAI’s leadership has made clear they believe the future of AI is ambient, wearable, and always on.
Hiring Paul Meade is the latest proof. He’s not a software engineer. He’s a hardware engineering leader who spent years figuring out how to put a computer on someone’s face and make it comfortable, functional, and actually usable. That’s exactly the kind of expertise you need if you’re building AI glasses.
For Apple, this is a headache. The company has spent years developing its own AI hardware strategy. Now one of the key people behind that strategy is helping a rival build something that could compete directly with it.
For consumers, it’s exciting. More competition in the AI wearables space means better products, faster innovation, and lower prices. Whether OpenAI’s first device is glasses, a pendant, or something we haven’t imagined yet, the race is on.
And Paul Meade just picked his team.
