Jony Ive frequents the gala of the advantages of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Institute to celebrate the opening of the exhibition “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” Monday May 5, 2025 in New York.
Evan Agostini / Invivision / AP
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Evan Agostini / Invivision / AP
OPENAI, manufacturer of the first Chatgpt artificial intelligence chatbot, is about to become physical.
The company announced that it bought a device startup called IO, launched by the former designer of Apple Jony IVE, in an agreement worth just under 6.5 billion dollars. It is the biggest OPENAI acquisition to date.
The rapprochement brings together two giants from the world of technology: IVE, which has designed the iPhone and other emblematic Apple products, and the director general of Openai, Sam Altman, who was at the forefront of AI development.
Both announced the agreement in a video Wednesday. Altman said that their mission would be to “find out how to create a family of devices that would allow people to use AI to create all kinds of wonderful things”.
The underlying idea, he said, is that current devices-laptops, phones-are overwhelmed and not optimized for AI. “AI is an incredible technology, but excellent tools require work at the intersection of technology, design and understanding of people and the world,” said Altman without giving more details.
Several other companies are competing for a toe in the arena of AI compatible devices, which are able to feel the real world and process information on this subject in real time using artificial intelligence. Devices may include robots, autonomous vehicles, glasses or other portable technologies.
Technology is often called “physical AI” because it moves AI from software domain in tangible objects.
IVE and his LOVEFROM design firm, which he started after leaving Apple in 2019, will assume the design and creative responsibilities through OPENAI and IO, said the announcement. Altman and Ive declared that they would publicly share their work next year, although they did not give details.
Chirag Dekate, analyst of the Gartner technology consulting firm, described the attachment of “not decisive to shape the end -to -end user experience”.
“This decision ensures world-class design expertise and product engineering talents, essential for translating powerful AI models for which Openai is known, in tangible and intuitive experiences powered by the platform,” he wrote in an email at NPR. “The breed to dominate and shape the physical AI will accelerate due to the strategic movements of Openai.”
We don’t know exactly what Altman and Ive have in mind, and an Openai spokesman refused to provide details. Altman previously invested in a company called Humane, which made a AI compatible reverse pin.
Before the agreement, which, according to Openai, should conclude this summer, the company already held 23% of the EMI in a collaboration agreement forged last year.
