OpenAI wants to buy Jony Ive start-up – for AI device without display
Dedicated AI devices have struggled in the market, but Jony Ive's company, LoveFrom, is taking a chance with interest from OpenAI for a potential collaboration.
Old times: Jony Ive at the Apple event.
(Image: Apple)
It is already known that former Apple chief designer Jonathan "Jony" Ive has an interest in AI. Last year, there were also reports of direct collaboration with OpenAI and its head Sam Altman. These rumors are now intensifying: OpenAI is reportedly interested in taking over a stealth spin-off launched by Ive from his design company LoveFrom. The aim is a new type of AI gadget that has no screen, writes the Silicon Valley-based trade magazine The Information. OpenAI has "discussed" buying the company, in which Sam Altman himself is also said to be involved.
No product yet – and a question of strategy
Possible sums were also already being discussed: OpenAI reportedly wanted to invest "at least" 500 million US dollars. Altman's involvement did not seem to play a role in this – There are already close links between OpenAI and other of his companies, for example in the energy sector. Ive's (and Altman's) company is to be called "io Products". It is based in an entire block of houses that Ive bought together in San Francisco.
The product from "io Products" is still said to be in an early phase and there is apparently no finished hardware yet. In addition to Ive, there is another Apple connection: the company of Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve Jobs' widow, is also involved – Emerson Collective holds shares and has given money. The senior managers also include former high-ranking Apple designers Evans Hankey and Tang Tan, who worked on the iPhone – Hankey was also briefly Ive's direct successor at Apple until she quit.
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Not the first AI gadget from ex-Apple employees
According to The Information, in addition to a direct takeover, there is also talk of just entering into a partnership with OpenAI. However, the AI pioneer would then not have direct access to the hardware. There are already plans for the software side to come from OpenAI. The idea is apparently to make the ChatGPT voice mode portable. This is already working quite well, even if the affair surrounding the possible voice theft of an actress has dampened the hype somewhat.
Previous attempts to push screenless AI gadgets onto the market have not been very successful. For example, the AI Pin has already been bought and buried on HP's leftover ramp, which ironically also has Apple roots – in the form of people who had worked under Ive himself. In turn, the former Apple design chief hopes that people will buy an AI gadget because it is less disruptive to social interactions than an iPhone.
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