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Robot model

Omi

Omi, by Based Hardware (founder and CEO Nik Shevchenko, a Thiel Fellow, in San Francisco, with about $700,000 raised), is a shipping AI necklace in the…

Manufacturer
Based Hardware
Form factor
wearable
Maturity
commercial
Lifecycle
active
Deployments
1

Overview

Omi, by Based Hardware (founder and CEO Nik Shevchenko, a Thiel Fellow, in San Francisco, with about $700,000 raised), is a shipping AI necklace in the ambient-recording 'second brain' category: a small circular orb worn on a neck lanyard that captures conversations and runs them through GPT-4o for ambient transcription in more than 25 languages, auto-summaries and tasks, a searchable memory database, daily recaps, and a Brain Map. It sells for $89 as a consumer unit or about $70 as a dev unit, with a free tier of unlimited on-device transcription plus 1,200 cloud minutes a month and an Omi Unlimited plan from $16 a month, on a hardware-sale-plus-subscription model where the user owns the device. It is one of the few genuinely open-hardware entries in the cohort, with an MIT-licensed GitHub repository of around 12,700 stars containing firmware, mobile and desktop apps, a backend, and open hardware designs, actively maintained into 2026. A disambiguation worth recording: Omi is distinct from Friend, Avi Schiffmann's AI companion pendant already in the registry, since Shevchenko's device was originally also called Friend and was renamed Omi after Schiffmann's competing device acquired the friend.com domain. The AI is genuine cloud functionality rather than veneer. A significant cap-flag applies to the aspirational marketing: CES 2025 headlines describing a brain interface that reads your mind via neural signal are unverified, with TechCrunch explicitly unable to verify the brain interface, the shipping product being audio-only, and the brain-computer-interface module remaining a 2026-2027 roadmap item with no EEG implementation in the open repository, so all neural and mind-reading claims are treated as aspirational.

Verified vs. claimed

Maturity stage
commercial(Commercially deployed with revenue-generating operations.)
Verified deployments
1 deployment on file
Sources on file
4 sources, view all

Key facts

Price

$89 consumer unit, ~$70 dev unit

Subscription

Omi Unlimited from $16/month; free tier includes 1,200 cloud minutes/month

Form factor

Small circular orb (~2.5cm) on a neck lanyard, also head-mountable

Sensor suite

Audio-only (shipping product); brain-computer interface module is 2026-2027 roadmap item

Supported languages

25+ languages for ambient transcription

Specs

Notes

Verified: Omi (by Based Hardware; founder/CEO Nik Shevchenko, Thiel Fellow; San Francisco; ~$700K raised) is a shipping AI necklace in the ambient-recording 'second brain' category. One of the few TRULY open-hardware entries in the cohort (MIT-licensed, actively maintained). maturity=commercial., DISAMBIGUATION: Omi is DISTINCT from Friend (Avi Schiffmann's AI companion pendant, in registry as friend-pendant). Nik Shevchenko's device was originally also called 'Friend' but was renamed to Omi after Schiffmann's competing device bought friend.com (~$1.8M). Keep separate., AI-substance: genuine (cloud): Real cloud AI (GPT-4o): ambient transcription, auto-summaries/tasks, searchable memory, daily recaps. Not veneer. Captive-vs-sale: hardware SALE + optional SaaS subscription (user owns device; can self-host given the open stack)., CAP-FLAG (aspirational EEG/brain-interface claims): Marketing (CES 2025 headlines: 'reads your mind', detect when you address it via neural signal) is UNVERIFIED: TechCrunch explicitly could not verify the brain interface; the SHIPPING product is audio-only; the brain/BCI module is roadmap (2026-2027, priority-access) with NO EEG/BCI implementation in the repo (only a 'BCI' topic tag). Treat all neural/mind-reading claims as aspirational. '250+ developer apps' is company-claimed, not audited.

Specs

Small circular orb (~2.5cm) on a neck lanyard (also head-mountable). $89 consumer / ~$70 dev (one-time). Free tier: unlimited on-device transcription + 1,200 cloud min/mo; Omi Unlimited from $16/mo. GPT-4o cloud AI: ambient transcription (25+ languages), auto-summaries/tasks, searchable memory DB, daily recaps, 'Brain Map'. Genuinely open-source (GitHub BasedHardware/omi, MIT, ~12.7k stars, firmware + Flutter/macOS apps + open hardware incl. 'Omi Glass').

Form Factor

wearable (AI necklace orb; ambient recording / 'second brain' transcription + recall)

Data & sources

Press releases

1

News coverage

1

Web sources

2

4 sources backing this record.View all →

Availability and pricing

Availability
Shipping now
Price
$89 (actual sale price)as of 2025-01-08
Units in field
Not disclosed
Sales model
Not disclosed
Lead time
Not disclosed

Pricing

One-time purchase

$89 USDactual sale priceas of 2025-01-08

Source: Based Hardware (Omi product page)

Price status: actual-sale-price = real published price at time of sale; manufacturer-target = vendor target, not yet realized; analyst-estimate = third-party projection, not a vendor figure; not-announced = no price on record.

Prices verified as of Jan 8, 2025

Deployments (1)

  • Omi at Globaloperational

    Based Hardware Omi AI wearable aggregate global deployment.

Omi on the deployment map

Where Omi is verified operating. Explore the deployment map by place and type.

Recent activity

Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.

Full change history →

Deployment-verified media (1)

PRIMARY SOURCE
Courtesy of Omi

Omi's (Based Hardware) launch video for its open-source AI pendant. Distinct from the separate 'Friend' pendant company; the software is open-source.

From deployment: Global

Safety record

No incidents on record for Omi.

Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Sources (4)

  1. https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/08/omi-a-competitor-to-friend-is-an-ai-wearable-that-can-be-worn-as-a-necklace-or-taped-to-your-head/
  2. https://github.com/BasedHardware/omi
  3. https://www.omi.me/pages/product
  4. https://decrypt.co/315375/omigpt-aims-smarter-ai-wearable

Compare Omi

Common questions

What is Omi?
Omi, by Based Hardware (founder and CEO Nik Shevchenko, a Thiel Fellow, in San Francisco, with about $700,000 raised), is a shipping AI necklace in the ambient-recording 'second brain' category: a small circular orb worn on a neck lanyard that captures conversations and runs them through GPT-4o for ambient transcription in more than 25 languages, auto-summaries and tasks, a searchable memory database, daily recaps, and a Brain Map. It sells for $89 as a consumer unit or about $70 as a dev unit, with a free tier of unlimited on-device transcription plus 1,200 cloud minutes a month and an Omi Unlimited plan from $16 a month, on a hardware-sale-plus-subscription model where the user owns the device. It is one of the few genuinely open-hardware entries in the cohort, with an MIT-licensed GitHub repository of around 12,700 stars containing firmware, mobile and desktop apps, a backend, and open hardware designs, actively maintained into 2026. A disambiguation worth recording: Omi is distinct from Friend, Avi Schiffmann's AI companion pendant already in the registry, since Shevchenko's device was originally also called Friend and was renamed Omi after Schiffmann's competing device acquired the friend.com domain. The AI is genuine cloud functionality rather than veneer. A significant cap-flag applies to the aspirational marketing: CES 2025 headlines describing a brain interface that reads your mind via neural signal are unverified, with TechCrunch explicitly unable to verify the brain interface, the shipping product being audio-only, and the brain-computer-interface module remaining a 2026-2027 roadmap item with no EEG implementation in the open repository, so all neural and mind-reading claims are treated as aspirational.
How much does Omi cost?
Omi is listed at $89 on the DEPLOY registry. This is an actual sale price on record.
Is Omi actually deployed in the real world?
Yes. Omi is independently verified in real-world operation on the DEPLOY registry, confirmed at named deployment sites with primary sources: not a concept, render, or demo-only.
Who makes Omi?
Omi is made by Based Hardware, based in unknown, founded in 2024.
Where is Omi deployed?
1 verified deployment of Omi is on the DEPLOY registry, including at Global.
Methodology: Verified · 4 sources (1 primary) · last reviewed 2026-06-28

Verification posture

Verified

High confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-06-28

Maturity + lifecycle

Maturity stage: commercial

Lifecycle: active

Architectural position

Cohort: wearable

Sources by quality tier

1
secondary-industry-publication
Industry publication
1
code-repository
Code repository
1
primary-company-ir
Company IR disclosure
1
unclassified
Unclassified source

The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.

Methodology surface for Omi.

Recent coverage

Omi in third-party press