Major AI corporations are racing to advance voice AI technology, betting that next-generation devices succeeding smartphones will be operated by voice rather than touch. OpenAI is developing a dedicated AI device with a target release next year, a donut-shaped portable smart speaker created with Jony Ive, which includes a camera and sensors, recognizes its surroundings, and is operated by voice. Meta has released AI-based smart glasses since 2021, all run by voice, activated by saying "Hey Meta," while Google and Apple are also set to launch AI smart glasses. To help these devices permeate daily life, firms are focusing on natural Conversational AI, addressing past drawbacks like slow response and awkward speech. OpenAI unveiled GPT-Realtime-2 in May this year, a voice AI model based on GPT-5-level reasoning that processes and generates voice input in real time using a full-duplex method, allowing instant responses even if interrupted. This contrasts with conventional voice AI, which relied on sequential steps from speech-to-text conversion to text-to-speech, causing slow speeds and disjointed turn-based conversations. An OpenAI official said, "More than 150 million people each week use ChatGPT's voice conversation and dictation features," adding, "We are advancing real-time voice AI technology so it can go."