What Is That Mysterious Metallic Device US Chief Design Officer Joe Gebbia Is Using? | WIRED

Overview

What Is That Mysterious Metallic Device US Chief Design Officer Joe Gebbia Is Using?

Joe Gebbia, cofounder of Airbnb and the US Chief Design Officer appointed by Trump, was spotted in San Francisco today using a mysterious metallic device. In a social media post on X viewed over 500,000 times, a man who looks like Gebbia sits with an espresso at a coffee shop. He’s wearing metallic buds that bisect his ears, with a matching clamshell-shaped disc in front of him on the counter.

Details

After the video was posted Monday morning, social media users were quick to suggest that this could be some kind of prototype from Open AI’s upcoming line of hardware devices designed in partnership with famed Apple designer Jony Ive. An Open AI spokesperson declined to comment on the potential Gebbia video after WIRED reached out. Gebbia also did not respond to a request for comment.

The device Gebbia appears to be wearing looks quite similar to the hardware seen in a fake Open AI ad that was widely circulated on Reddit and social media in February. That video from last month seemingly showed Pillion actor Alexander Skarsgård interacting with an AI device that had a similar-looking pair of earbuds and a circular disc. At the time, Open AI denounced the widely seen video as not real. “Fake news,” wrote Open AI President Greg Brockman at the time, responding to a social media post.

The earbuds seen in the video of Gebbia also look quite similar in shape to the Huawei Free Clip 2, a pair of open earbuds released earlier this year. However, the clamshell seen on the coffee counter next to Gebbia is different from Huawei’s most recent headphone case. It would also be quite surprising if a government official were seen using Huawei tech, considering the Chinese company is effectively banned from selling its phones in the US due to security concerns.

WIRED's audio experts say he's most likely wearing open earbuds, as Gebbia's pair share some similarities with Soundcore's Aero Clips or Sony's Link Buds Clip, though the cases for those buds don't match what's on the table in front of Gebbia. WIRED also ran the photo and video through software that attempts to identify AI-generated outputs and other deepfakes. The detection software, from a company called Hive, says the odds are low that this imagery of Gebbia was generated by AI. Still, AI detectors are not always reliable and can include false outputs. It's possible that the entire post could be a synthetic hoax.

Could this be some kind of soft launch teaser for Open AI’s hardware? The timing of this trickle out would make sense, since the company may ship devices to consumers sometime early in 2027. Still, Open AI denied any involvement with the previous pseudo-ad for the metallic AI hardware, with its shiny earbuds and matching disc.

Another possibility is that Gebbia’s device is a hardware prototype from another company. From small startups to larger tech giants, numerous companies are developing hardware centered around generative AI models despite high-profile flops like the Humane Ai Pin.

It’s unclear why Gebbia would be testing prototype hardware in a public setting, like San Francisco, where people who work in the tech industry are more likely to recognize him. Gebbia is the first person to hold the position of Chief Design Officer, as established by one of Trump’s executive orders. “The Chief Design Officer will help recruit top creative talent, coordinate with executive departments and agencies (agencies), and devise innovative solutions,” the order reads. The position mainly focuses on updating government websites for better usability.

Anticipation for what kind of hardware Open AI will eventually release has been brewing since last May, when Jony Ive and Open AI CEO Sam Altman announced a partnership to create a unique line of AI-powered devices. It’s a small detail that’s likely just coincidental, but Ive and Altman also sipped on espressos in that announcement video. At Open AI’s developer conference, Ive said that he hoped the upcoming AI devices would “make us happy and fulfilled, and more peaceful and less anxious, and less disconnected.”

Despite Open AI’s past denials, commenters on social media are holding out hope that this mysterious, metallic device could be a glimpse of Open AI’s hardware or that another powerful startup has convinced a US official to test their prototype.

Keeping all of that in mind, it’s still very possible that this brouhaha is about nothing at all, and Gebbia is just rocking an odd-looking set of unidentified headphones. Either way, I’m curious to find out which theory, if any, prevails. Until then, I’ll keep sipping on an espresso and refreshing my feed.

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Key Takeaways

• What Is That Mysterious Metallic Device US Chief Design Officer Joe Gebbia Is Using

• Joe Gebbia, cofounder of Airbnb and the US Chief Design Officer appointed by Trump, was spotted in San Francisco today using a mysterious metallic device

• After the video was posted Monday morning, social media users were quick to suggest that this could be some kind of prototype from Open AI’s upcoming line of hardware devices designed in partnership with famed Apple designer Jony Ive

• The device Gebbia appears to be wearing looks quite similar to the hardware seen in a fake Open AI ad that was widely circulated on Reddit and social media in February

• The earbuds seen in the video of Gebbia also look quite similar in shape to the Huawei Free Clip 2, a pair of open earbuds released earlier this year