Nov 4, 2026
OpenAI says GPT-6 Astra designed a device in under a week
OpenAI says GPT-6 Astra designed a device's enclosure, circuit board, UI and firmware in under a week. Building it was a separate step: a contract manufacturer made prototypes in under a month and caught errors Astra missed.
Sir Toastimir
Video · OpenAI
OpenAI says GPT-6 Astra designed a working hardware device in under a week, as a side project run by two of its engineers.
The design
According to OpenAI, Astra defined the requirements and designed the enclosure, the printed circuit board, the components, the interface and the firmware. OpenAI says no human edited the design directly.
The manufacturing
Building the device was a separate step. A contract manufacturer produced prototypes in under a month. The factory caught problems Astra had missed, including production limits, tolerances and assembly details, so the design went through several rounds of review before it worked.
The bigger picture
OpenAI says its hardware team's token usage is up 23-fold since February, and it is working with partners including CGR and Mazda on engineering work.
Would you trust an AI to design your hardware?
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