OpenAI’s Odd New $70 ChatGPT Basketball and $230 Codex Micro Keyboard Mark Entry Into Hardware Market

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is stepping into physical retail with an unusual mix of products this week, rolling out a branded rubber basketball priced at $70 alongside its first genuine piece of consumer hardware: a $230 mini keyboard built for users of its AI coding assistant, Codex.

The basketball is part of a broader merchandise push OpenAI is calling “Pause. Play. Prompt.,” a campaign the company says is meant to remind people that creativity extends beyond screens. The product listing describes the ball as “a physical reminder that creativity doesn’t just live on our screens.” Alongside the basketball, OpenAI’s new merchandise shop also includes a $175 quarter-zip sweatshirt emblazoned with the word “research” in cursive lettering, along with other items carrying inspirational slogans such as “Good research takes time.”

The pricing has drawn some pointed commentary from tech reporters. TechCrunch’s Amanda Silberling noted that the “Pause. Play. Prompt.” branding does not appear to exist anywhere else on OpenAI’s site, joking that the campaign seemed designed to discourage people from spending all day inside the company’s own products. She also questioned who exactly the basketball was designed for, writing bluntly that she “could not pay me $70 to walk onto a community court” with the branded ball.

The more consequential hardware news, however, arrived a day earlier, when OpenAI unveiled the Codex Micro, officially named the kbd-1.0-codex-micro, marking the company’s first true hardware product. Built in partnership with Work Louder, a Canadian-Italian maker of programmable keyboards and macro pads, the $230 device functions less like a traditional keyboard and more like a specialized control panel for managing AI coding agents, the semi-autonomous bots capable of writing and executing code with minimal human oversight.

The device includes 13 mechanical switches, a touch sensor, a rotary dial for adjusting how much computing power, or “reasoning,” an AI agent applies to a given task, and an analog joystick for launching common workflows. According to OpenAI, illuminated “Agent Keys” display real-time status updates showing whether a given coding agent is thinking, running, waiting or finished with its task, while separate customizable “Command Keys” offer shortcuts for frequently used Codex actions such as accepting or rejecting code changes, starting a new chat, or activating push-to-talk voice input. The keyboard is available in two versions, one with an audibly clicky switch mechanism and one designed to operate silently, and connects via both USB-C and Bluetooth.

OpenAI’s developer team described the appeal of the device in a promotional post on the social platform X, framing it as a way to keep pinned chats visible and map buttons and the joystick directly to a user’s workflow. The company’s own product page goes further, describing the Codex Micro as a “command center for agentic work.”

Despite the polish of the launch, OpenAI told TechCrunch the Codex Micro is being sold as a limited-run collaboration rather than a mass-market product, suggesting the device is intended more as a novelty item signaling the company’s broader hardware ambitions than as a high-volume consumer release. Notably, the Codex Micro is not the long-rumored device OpenAI has been developing in partnership with former Apple designer Jony Ive, a screen-free AI gadget first announced last year that OpenAI’s chief financial officer has said will be revealed by the end of the year. According to a separate report from Bloomberg, that forthcoming device is being designed as a portable, screenless smart speaker that integrates with ChatGPT and includes mechanical components capable of moving on their own, a considerably more ambitious undertaking than the Codex Micro’s specialized keyboard format.

The Codex Micro’s launch arrives at a legally sensitive moment for OpenAI’s broader hardware push. The unveiling came less than a week after Apple filed a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of stealing trade secrets related to hardware development through former Apple employees who later joined OpenAI, a dispute tied to the company’s larger ambitions in the physical device space. Some coverage of the Codex Micro’s release explicitly framed the keyboard launch against the backdrop of that ongoing legal battle, noting the timing as OpenAI presses forward with hardware plans even as it faces scrutiny over how those plans came together.

Reaction to the Codex Micro among tech reporters has generally centered on its niche appeal. Coverage from multiple outlets described the device as resembling a Stream Deck, the popular customizable macro-control panel widely used by streamers and content creators, reworked specifically for developers managing multiple AI coding agents simultaneously. Reporters noted that all of the device’s physical inputs are fully customizable, allowing users to reassign keys and tailor the joystick and dial functions to their own coding workflows.

Together, the basketball, sweatshirt and Codex Micro keyboard reflect a broader effort by OpenAI to make the ChatGPT brand feel more tangible beyond its software products, even as the company’s actual AI tools continue driving increased screen time for millions of users worldwide. The contrast has not gone unnoticed by observers, who have pointed out the apparent tension between a campaign explicitly encouraging people to step away from screens and a company whose core business depends on users spending more time engaging with its AI products.

Whether the merchandise line represents a lasting business strategy or a short-lived branding exercise remains unclear. OpenAI’s own characterization of the Codex Micro as a limited-run collaboration suggests the company views its early hardware forays as experimental rather than central to its business, even as the more ambitious Jony Ive-designed device continues development behind the scenes. For now, the basketball, sweatshirt and specialized keyboard offer an unusual physical footnote to a company otherwise known almost entirely for its software, giving OpenAI a small but tangible retail presence as it continues expanding well beyond its original identity as an AI research lab.