Updated
Updated · Mashable · Jul 16
OpenAI Sells $70 ChatGPT Basketball as Supply Co. Pushes Into $230 Desk Hardware
Updated
Updated · Mashable · Jul 16

OpenAI Sells $70 ChatGPT Basketball as Supply Co. Pushes Into $230 Desk Hardware

3 articles · Updated · Mashable · Jul 16

Summary

  • $70 gets buyers a Size 7 rubber ChatGPT basketball in OpenAI’s Supply Co. shop, extending the company’s push to put its brand beyond screens.
  • Supply Co., once a small employee merch operation, is now framed by OpenAI as a home for “physical expressions” of its research culture, with apparel and collectibles alongside the ball.
  • $230 Codex Micro gives that strategy a more functional edge: the sold-out desktop controller adds keys, a joystick and status lights for users managing multiple Codex coding-agent tasks.
  • That broader hardware push reaches beyond merchandise. Bloomberg reported July 14 that OpenAI is developing a screenless home device after its roughly $6.5 billion acquisition of Jony Ive’s io in 2025.

Insights

Can a $70 basketball campaign for well-being overshadow the massive carbon footprint of the generative AI industry?
As OpenAI builds its own hardware, is it signaling a strategic ambition to become the vertically integrated 'Apple of AI'?
With its new keyboard for 'agentic AI,' what safeguards will prevent these autonomous systems from making costly business errors?