The last 48 hours have been a wild rollercoaster ride for AI hardware. On Tuesday, Google ended its I/O keynote – a roughly two-hour event with copious references to AI – with its vision for Android XR glasses. That included flashy partnerships with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, as well as the first hands-on opportunity with its prototype glasses for the developers and the majority of tech media alike. On the ground, it was among the buzziest things to come out of Google I/O – a glimpse of what Big Tech thinks is the winning AI hardware formula.

A day later, Jony Ive and Sam Altman kicked down the door and told Google, “Hold my beer.”

If you’ve somehow missed the headlines, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed that the company was buying Ive’s AI hardware startup for $6.5 billion. That alone was enough to set the tech media sphere ablaze. After all, Ive is the legendary figure behind the iPhone and Apple Watch’s iconic design, revered for his relationship to Steve Jobs. Altman is not only the most recognizable figure in this new AI era, he’s also frequently compared to Jobs himself. It’s a narrative that writes itself. But for gadget nerds, the real nugget was the tidbit that Altma …

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