WTF Is Dime, Mystery OpenAI Kulaklık Seti

Today Palmer Luckey was spotted in a staged tweet promoting Dime, the mysterious silver headset:

This is now at least the fourth marketing stunt from Dime, the mysterious silver headset that OpenAI has guaranteed us it is not affiliated with.

The Palmer Luckey post is from "Sweetpea's Flowers", a name that hearkens back one of the first leaks about OpenAI's hardware:

WTF is going on here? Let's back up and take inventory of the chronology.

1. The first hints. In January of 2026, a now-deleted X account @zhihuipikachu posted unconfirmed supply-chain leaks that OpenAI was developing an audio device codenamed "Sweetpea." Reports described a distinctive metal 'eggstone' case and small modules worn around or behind the ear. The same rumor ecosystem claimed the consumer name for Sweetpea would be Dime, citing an alleged China IP filing.

2. The Sighting. On February 9, A now-deleted Reddit account claiming to be a disgruntled OpenAI employee claimed that OpenAI canceled a Super Bowl commercial with Alexander Skarsgård that showed off the new Jony Ive-designed hardware. This was the first time we saw the alleged Dime:

3. The Denial. OpenAI forcefully and publicly denied that this was their device.

The company publicly called it 'totally false' and 'not connected to us at all', and Greg Brockman tweeted that it was fake news:

So, maybe it's not them? In fact, io hardware chief Tang Tan (yes, that Tang Tan) testified under oath in 2025:

The prototype Sam Altman referenced in the [2025 io announcement] video is at least a year away from being offered for sale. Its design is not yet finalized, but it is not an in-ear device, nor a wearable device.

So we have a senior OpenAI exec stating, under oath, that io's first product is not in-ear earbuds, on top of the full-company denial and GDB direct denial. But the story doesn't stop there.

4. The Gebbia Sighting. Everything got weird on March 2, 2026, when Joe Gebbia was spotted at Sightglass SF wearing The Device:

It was pretty unmistakeable: the metallic puck on the counter, the iconic (and weirdly protruding) metal spike-buds, and an oddly quiet Gebbia, just sitting there waiting to be seen. Rumors circled that OpenAI was nearing a launch, but not much came of it. Until...

5.