Earlier this week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman made a shock announcement that his firm is buying io, a startup based by Jony Ive, Apple’s former industrial designer, for $6.5 billion. The information caught everybody in Silicon Valley off guard, and its affect was felt at Apple, whose shares dropped by 2.3 per cent.
Each Altman and Ive are highly effective names in tech, and the partnership between the iPhone designer and the developer of ChatGPT is each thrilling and weird. Ive stays one of many best industrial designers of all time, and his Midas contact has given the world iconic Apple merchandise—be it the iPod, iPhone, iPad, or AirPods.
Up to now, Ive labored intently with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, and their “religious” relationship resulted in among the most world-changing merchandise ever created. OpenAI’s promotional supplies function Altman and Ive in a video that strongly implies Altman’s collaboration with the Apple’s famed designed tries to pitch him as Jobs’ pure successor.
Though calling Altman the following Steve Jobs could also be an overstatement, the truth that he and Ive have teamed up for the primary time to guess on a brand new AI {hardware} product has shocked many—particularly on condition that Ive by no means shared the identical form of relationship with Apple CEO Tim Prepare dinner. Ive left Apple in 2019 to start out his personal firm, LoveFrom.
The one distinction this time is that Altman and Ive’s collaboration is being closely marketed to present the impression that the duo is ready to create a product—nonetheless shrouded in thriller—that might have an effect as vital because the iPhone did for the world and for Apple. Ive and his earlier collaborator, Steve Jobs, by no means pre-announced merchandise or teased bulletins till launch day.
However the massive query is: what are Altman and Ive engaged on that they consider may match the success of the iPhone? All indicators level to a brand new sort of gadget—one which’s neither a smartphone, nor a pair of sensible glasses like Meta’s Ray-Bans or Google’s lately introduced AI sensible glasses prototype, nor a smartwatch.
Neither Altman nor Ive is able to reveal the shape issue of the gadget but, however in a shiny nine-minute promo video shot in San Francisco, Altman says of the thriller gadget: “Jony lately gave me one of many prototypes of the gadget to take house for the primary time, and I’ve been capable of stay with it. I feel it’s the coolest piece of know-how that the world could have ever seen.”
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Might or not it’s a Humane AI Pin-like gadget—a screenless gadget that Apple’s ex-designer Imran Chaudhry tried to make however failed miserably? There are all kinds of theories floating round on the web, however Ive himself described the Humane Pin and different AI {hardware} merchandise just like the Rabbit R1 as “very poor merchandise.”
Humane AI was acquired by HP earlier this yr. (Picture credit score: Humane.com)
So what precisely was the prototype Altman was testing? A neckband with a digital camera connected? Possibly, or perhaps not. However the product might be “unobtrusive” and able to being absolutely conscious of a person’s environment and life. With a launch date set for late 2026 for the primary AI {hardware}—and Altman promising a household of AI units—each Altman and Ive have set out an formidable aim: to create 100 million AI “companions.”
With OpenAI’s expertise in AI and Ive’s monitor document of making modern {hardware}, expectations will definitely be excessive to provide a product that belongs to the longer term—just like the iPhone was when it debuted in 2007. Nevertheless, there are additionally doubts about whether or not the “AI gadget” Altman refers to will really substitute the smartphone in your pocket. The telephone stays essentially the most usable gadget in on a regular basis life, and its apps and ecosystem are so robust that no different gadget has but changed the smartphone.
Whereas corporations like Meta and others envision sensible glasses changing the smartphone sooner or later, there was no outlined kind issue even near the telephone up to now. Even Apple, which remains to be dwelling on the previous glory of the iPhone—though its recognition has peaked, it’s nonetheless going robust and bringing in billions in income annually—has tried and failed with the Imaginative and prescient Professional, a mixed-reality headset that’s too cumbersome and costly, and that most individuals have forgotten about.
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However there are indicators that the smartphone kind issue gained’t be round for much longer—within the subsequent 10 years. At Google’s antitrust trial earlier this month, Apple govt Eddy Cue stated that due to AI, “it’s possible you’ll not want an iPhone 10 years from now.” So the business is working behind the scenes to create a brand new gadget within the hope that it’ll lastly topple the iPhone and turn into the brand new benchmark, surpassing the success of the smartphone.
No matter product replaces the smartphone might be constructed round synthetic intelligence. That is what Silicon Valley has been hinting at for the previous yr or so. Nevertheless, earlier makes an attempt at creating AI units from the bottom up have had a poor monitor document. The query stays: how otherwise are Altman and Ive approaching the creation of this AI gadget? There are challenges, equivalent to whether or not the AI might be cloud-based—which implies the gadget may cease working when offline and will expertise latency even when related.
The primary Apple iPhone designed by Jony Ive. (Picture credit score: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Categorical)
Maybe the most important hurdle is whether or not Jony Ive remains to be as related as he was again within the day when he was with Apple. Ive often is the best industrial designer of all time, however since leaving Apple, he has not created a single compelling product. After departing Apple in 2019 to start out his personal design agency, LoveFrom, he has labored solely on merchandise like a $2,000 jacket, a $60,000 limited-edition turntable, and a few tasks for Ferrari.
OpenAI isn’t shopping for LoveFrom, however Ive’s design consultancy will stay impartial. As an alternative, Altman’s firm is buying a LoveFrom spinoff named io. Led by Ive and three different former Apple staff, io is a product-focused group with {hardware} and software program engineers. io’s 55 staff will be part of OpenAI to kind a brand new {hardware} division, which might be led by Peter Welinder.
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Altman is a visionary and maybe the main authority in AI within the present panorama. And whereas he often is the greatest determine in tech proper now, Altman’s fashion may be very completely different from Jobs’, who was passionate, pushed, and a management freak when it got here to the merchandise Apple wished to make. Altman, alternatively, likes to maneuver quick and ships his merchandise early to the general public and builders to strive. Evaluating Altman with Jobs will not be the proper factor to do, however that is additionally a brand new period, and maybe Ive understands this nicely and is able to adapt to the altering occasions.