OpenAI says its AI model designed a working gadget with no hand edits from engineers
The device still needed several review rounds before a factory could build it.
OpenAI said Tuesday that its GPT-6 Astra model designed a working electronic device with no direct human edits to the design. According to the San Francisco company, two employees produced it in under a week as a side project.
The device is a small gadget people use to talk to Codex, OpenAI's coding agent. OpenAI said the model wrote the requirements, shaped the case, laid out the printed circuit board that connects the electronics, and wrote the firmware, the built-in software, and the on-screen interface. A contract manufacturer built prototypes in under a month.
OpenAI acknowledged limits. It took several rounds of review, and the model did not consistently account for the factory's production limits, allowed size variations or assembly details.
The company said its own hardware teams use 23 times more AI computing than in February. On an internal design test, a newer unreleased model scored 0.875, versus 0.594 for Astra. OpenAI also said it is working with Chip Ganassi Racing and Mazda on design tasks.
Source: OpenAI, Nov. 3, 2026