Latest news with #iPhoneofAI
San Francisco Chronicle
22-05-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
OpenAI to buy iPhone designer Jony Ive's startup for $6.5 billion. Here's what it means for S.F.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and famed Apple designer Jony Ive have joined forces to build the 'iPhone of AI,' with OpenAI agreeing to buy Ive's new startup Io for $6.5 billion. The purchase would be OpenAI's biggest deal ever, uniting two of the most prominent names in tech and giving San Francisco another economic win in the nascent industry. The team will create a 'new family of products' for artificial intelligence, Altman and Ive said in a joint statement Wednesday. The deal is subject to regulatory approval. Ive, who left Apple in 2019, and his San Francisco design studio LoveFrom began working with Altman two years ago. Altman has been frequently seen in the city's Jackson Square neighborhood where LoveFrom's headquarters is located. 'A collaboration built upon friendship, curiosity and shared values quickly grew in ambition. Tentative ideas and explorations evolved into tangible designs,' the statement said. Io was co-founded by Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey and Tang Tan. Ive and his team 'will assume deep design and creative responsibilities across OpenAI.' Ive declined further comment on the deal. The startup employs 55 people, who will all become OpenAI employees, but will remain based in Jackson Square. Io is located in that neighborhood, close to LoveFrom's headquarters, in a building Ive purchased, the Chronicle has learned. Ive's multi million dollar purchases of a string of adjacent aging buildings centered around the 800 block of Montgomery Street in the ritzy Jackson Square neighborhood have made headlines in recent years. He has launched an extensive renovation effort to revitalize them as LoveFrom's home base, which is ongoing. Altman has also made major real estate moves. He leased close to 1 million square feet across three separate buildings in the city's Mission Bay neighborhood where he moved OpenAI. 'Jony Ive and OpenAI's partnership is a big vote of confidence in San Francisco,' Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a social media post. 'Our city has a strong history of creativity and innovation, a legacy that is alive and well today. This is the place to create the future.' Sarah Dennis Phillips, executive director of the city's Office of Economic and Workforce Development, said that the deal between Altman and Ive "perfectly illustrates what San Francisco is — a unique ecosystem where ambitious ideas are discussed, challenged, tested and formed into action." "San Francisco has been Jony Ive's creative home. San Francisco birthed OpenAI and supported Sam Altman's ongoing innovation," she said. "It's where these incredible individuals, their creativity and their innovation can crash together to create something new." The Emerson Collective, a social change organization founded by philanthropist and entrepreneur Laurene Powell Jobs, and Thrive Capital, a venture capital firm led by Joshua Kushner — the brother of President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner — have been confirmed as investors in Io. Sources have confirmed to the Chronicle that Powell Jobs has also purchased real estate in Jackson Square. The Chronicle reported last year that Thrive Capital paid roughly $9 million for 451 Pacific Ave., a near century old brick-and-timber office building that is located a block over from LoveFrom's headquarters. "Jackson Square, where this collaboration is taking shape, has quietly become a magnet for visionary creators," said Claude Imbault, vice president of Planning and Economic Development for placemaking organization Downtown SF Partnership. "It's both the birthplace of modern San Francisco and a hub for building the future." Sources with insight into OpenAI's acquisition of Ive's startup said that more hires are likely and that Ive's team is 'doubling down' on San Francisco. In a video featuring Altman and Ive walking past sweeping views of San Francisco's Transamerica Pyramid and a foggy Golden Gate Bridge, the two men lauded each other — Ive crediting Altman for 'humility' and Altman calling Ive the 'deepest thinker.' They meet at Cafe Zoetrope in North Beach. 'San Francisco has been like a mythical place in American history,' said Altman. 'It is the city I most associate with the sort of leading edge of culture and technology.' The video feels like a love letter to San Francisco. 'This city has enabled and been the place of the creation of so much,' said Ive. 'I feel I owe this city such an enormous debt of gratitude.' 'This is another success story for San Francisco. This shows that we continue to be the best place in the world to bring world-changing ideas to life,' said Supervisor Danny Sauter, who represents Jackson Square. He said that Ive and his company 'have been positive partners in the neighborhood with open and transparent communication and we hope and expect that to continue.'
Tom's Guide
21-05-2025
- Business
- Tom's Guide
OpenAI and Jony Ive are building the ‘iPhone of AI' — here's what that means for you
OpenAI made its boldest move yet, which could completely reshape how we interact with artificial intelligence. The OpenAI CEO has acquired io, an AI hardware startup co-founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive, in a $6.5 billion deal. Altman hopes to create the "iPhone of AI" — an intuitive and human-friendly device that might make our current smartphones feel outdated. The partnership fuses OpenAI's advanced software with Ive's world-renowned hardware design ethos. Beyond a business deal, it's a moonshot to reinvent what AI can look and feel like in everyday life. If successful, this could be the moment AI moves off our screens and into the world around us. 'AI is an incredible technology,' OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a statement as part of a joint announcement by OpenAI and Jony Ive's design firm, LoveFrom, detailing their collaboration to develop new AI-driven hardware products. 'But great tools require work at the intersection of technology, design, and understanding people. No one can do this like Jony and his team.' Jony Ive isn't joining OpenAI directly. Instead, his independent firm, LoveFrom, will lead design for the upcoming AI hardware. Over 55 former Apple engineers are also coming onboard, including key names behind the iPhone and Apple Watch: Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey, and Tang Tan. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. The team's first device is expected in 2026. According to early leaks and interviews, the focus will be on "invisible" or ambient computing. That means less screen time, more natural interactions, and potentially a whole new category of AI-integrated products. Both Altman and Ive have been open about the pitfalls of current tech, especially the addictive, screen-based models that dominate our lives. The new AI devices aim to break that pattern, using design and voice-based interfaces to make technology feel less like a distraction and more like an invisible assistant. Leaked concepts suggest we might see: 'Everything I've learned over 30 years has led to this,' Ive told The Wall Street Journal. 'I'm anxious, excited, and grateful.' This is OpenAI's largest acquisition to date, and perhaps the most strategic. With ChatGPT already in the hands of millions, the company now has the design talent to build physical devices that could bring generative AI to the forefront of consumer tech. If this works, we could be looking at AI's equivalent of the iPhone moment: an expertly designed, game-changing product that sets the tone for the next decade of personal technology. This $6.5 billion deal with OpenAI, Jony Ive and 55 ex-Apple engineers, means we could soon see AI hardware designed for natural, screen-free interaction by 2026. OpenAI is betting on a future where AI fades into the background, enhancing life as a smart companion instead of dominating it.
