Jony Ive, the former Apple designer, is working on a new startup with OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman. The collaboration was confirmed by Ive in a recent profile about his activities since leaving Apple five years ago.
Fascinating (premature?) victory lap from Sam Altman & OpenAI. This is quite the declaration.
Take this sort of stuff with a grain of salt, but also as useful signal about attitudes of AI insiders actually building new models. https://t.co/kN2NPq2Ud2 pic.twitter.com/qiIr5rUxh8
— Ethan Mollick (@emollick) September 23, 2024
The startup, which is currently unnamed, aims to build a product that uses AI to create a computing experience that is less socially disruptive than the iPhone.
Ive’s firm, LoveFrom, is taking the lead on design.
If Sam Altman left OpenAI what do you think would happen to the $150b valuation?
?
— Emad (@EMostaque) September 26, 2024
Industrial designer Marc Newson, who is also collaborating with Ive, mentioned that the product specifics and its release timing are still undecided. Despite this, the startup is actively fundraising, with contributions coming from Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective and Ive himself.
The company aims to raise up to $1 billion by the end of the year.
Ive collaborates with OpenAI team
The project appears to be in its early stages, with few details available.
Sam Altman on May 16, 2023:
"I have no equity in OpenAI."
"I'm doing this because I love it."pic.twitter.com/Ks1tRGoTKu
— Smoke-away (@SmokeAwayyy) September 26, 2024
Ive reportedly met Altman through Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb. The current team working on the device is small but notable, including Tang Tan and Evans Hankey, two former collaborators of Ive from his time at Apple. LoveFrom is operating out of a 32,000-square-foot office building in San Francisco, part of a significant real estate investment Ive has made in the city.
Discussions between Ive and Altman have hinted at the potential for generative AI to enable a new kind of computing device that could surpass traditional software capabilities by handling more complex user requests. This collaboration marks a significant step into AI hardware by two influential figures in the tech world. The interest in this new venture points to the broader industry trend of integrating artificial intelligence more deeply into consumer products.
