(Reuters) - Sam Altman, the recently ousted CEO of OpenAI, has been telling investors that he is planning to launch a new venture, the Information reported on Saturday.

Former OpenAI president Greg Brockman is expected to join the effort and the project is still in development, the report added citing a person familiar with the matter.

Altman could not be reached for comment and Brockman did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment.

Altman and Apple (NASDAQ:)'s former design chief Jony Ive have been discussing building a new artificial intelligence (AI) hardware device, the Information reported in September. It also reported at the time that SoftBank (TYO:) CEO Masayoshi Son has also been involved in the conversation.

The board of OpenAI, the company behind hit product ChatGPT, on Friday pushed out its high-profile CEO Altman. Co-founder Brockman quit shortly after Altman was fired.

Altman's ouster was over "breakdown of communications," not "malfeasance", Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap wrote in an internal company memo earlier Saturday that was viewed by Reuters.