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India Today
2 hours ago
- Business
- India Today
Jony Ive reveals dark side of tech, says he feels responsible for iPhone's unintended consequences
Former Apple design head Jony Ive has spoken honestly about the negative side of modern technology, saying he feels partly responsible for the unintended consequences that followed the launch of the iPhone. In a recent interview with Stripe, he admitted that while the phone was a breakthrough in innovation, it also led to problems that were never expected at the time — such as screen addiction and overuse of social spent over 20 years at Apple and was involved in designing the iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, and Apple Watch. After leaving Apple in 2019, he started his own design firm called LoveFrom. Now, he's working on a new project with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. The new device, which is still under development, is being described as an advanced AI product. While details are limited, Ive has said that this project is being driven by a desire to fix the mistakes of the explained that every new invention brings consequences — some good and some bad. While many users found the iPhone to be a powerful and helpful device, others became overly dependent on it. 'While some of the less positive consequences were unintentional, I still feel responsibility,' Ive said in the interview, adding that this sense of responsibility is what's motivating him to build something better Ive also pointed out that the rise of AI offers a chance to think differently. He believes technology should serve people in better ways than it does today. That's why he's teaming up with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to build this new product — something they hope will be more thoughtful and Powell Jobs, the wife of Steve Jobs, has also shown strong support for this new AI device. She has invested in both LoveFrom and the hardware startup called "io," which is working on the product. Powell Jobs said she's excited by how the idea has taken shape, describing it as a 'wondrous' process — watching rough ideas slowly become real, working they haven't revealed much about what the product looks like or how it will function, reports suggest that some of Ive's former Apple colleagues, including top designers like Tang Tan and Evans Hankey, are part of the also shared that he finds the current conversations around AI encouraging, especially because there is more attention being given to safety and long-term impact. He said he was deeply worried about social media in the past, as it grew with very little public concern at the the project is still under wraps, Ive made it clear that he wants to be part of a future where technology does more good than harm and it's this goal that's guiding his latest work.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Jony Ive, Described By Sam Altman As 'The Greatest Designer In The World' Joins OpenAI In $6.5B Deal To Build 'A Totally New Kind Of Thing'
OpenAI on May 21 that it had made a significant move by acquiring io, the AI hardware startup co-founded by renowned designer . The deal is valued at approximately $6.5 billion and brings Ive and a team of former Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) engineers into OpenAI's fold to spearhead a new division focused on building screenless, AI-powered hardware devices, Bloomberg reports. Don't Miss:Invest where it hurts — and help millions heal:. According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the partnership aims to develop 'a totally new kind of thing,' referring to a novel category of computing devices that minimize screen dependency and prioritize seamless interaction with artificial intelligence, Bloomberg says. Ive, who co-founded io in 2024 after launching his independent design firm LoveFrom, will oversee design across all OpenAI initiatives, including both software and hardware interfaces, according to Bloomberg. According to Bloomberg, the io acquisition includes roughly 55 engineers and designers from Apple and LoveFrom. These include Tang Tan, Evans Hankey, and Scott Cannon, all of whom were instrumental in the development of the iPhone, Apple Watch, and other flagship products, Bloomberg reports. Trending: Ive's career spans nearly three decades at Apple, where he was responsible for designing the iPhone, iMac, iPod, iPad, and Apple Watch. According to CNBC, Ive was described by the late Steve Jobs as his 'spiritual partner at Apple,' and his 'closest and most loyal friend.' Altman also referred to Ive as "the greatest designer in the world" in a post on X, expressing his excitement about their partnership. Altman said he was "thrilled to be partnering with Jony" and "excited to try to create a new generation of AI-powered computers," signaling a bold step toward reimagining how people interact with artificial intelligence. The team's mission at OpenAI will be to build a family of AI-native devices that offer new modes of interaction, breaking away from legacy interfaces like smartphone screens and physical keyboards, Bloomberg reports. According to TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in an X post, one prototype involves a display-less wearable device that connects to smartphones and is worn around the neck, similar in philosophy to Apple's to Bloomberg, the $6.5 billion transaction consists of $5 billion in equity and the balance from OpenAI's previously held 23% stake in io, established in a deal during the fourth quarter of 2024. Investors in io include Laurene Powell Jobs through Emerson Collective, Thrive Capital, Maverick Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures, and SV Angel. This acquisition marks OpenAI's largest to date and underscores its transition from pure software research to full-stack consumer hardware development. The company's valuation has soared to $300 billion, driven by the success of ChatGPT and related AI systems, Bloomberg says. Meanwhile, Apple continues to face mounting pressure in the AI race. According to Bloomberg, the company's current platform relies in part on OpenAI's models, and its in-house capabilities have been perceived as lagging behind competitors like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. With a team of seasoned designers and engineers, OpenAI now holds a unique position to create transformative devices that align with its broader mission of democratizing access to artificial intelligence in everyday life. Read Next: Maximize saving for your retirement and cut down on taxes: . How do billionaires pay less in income tax than you?. Image: Shutterstock UNLOCKED: 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily, plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? This article Jony Ive, Described By Sam Altman As 'The Greatest Designer In The World' Joins OpenAI In $6.5B Deal To Build 'A Totally New Kind Of Thing' originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Engadget
5 days ago
- Business
- Engadget
The Zune's creator is leading a secretive team at Amazon
J Allard, a former Microsoft executive and the mind behind the Zune, is leading a new team at Amazon, CNBC reports. Allard is officially the vice president of Amazon's ZeroOne, which, based on at least one Amazon job listing, is "a special projects team dedicated to inventing breakthrough consumer product categories." What ZeroOne is actually working on remains a bit mysterious, but CNBC was able to find another listing for a "Senior Applied Scientist" role that suggests the team will be "conceiving, designing, and bringing to market computer vision techniques for a new smart-home product." Computer vision is the umbrella term for technologies that allow computer systems to "understand" images and video — for example, the ability for a Ring Video Doorbell to identify when a package is on your door step. Depending on your taste in MP3 players, Allard's role in the creation of the Microsoft Zune could justifiably give you pause. Microsoft's failed MP3 player looked distinct, but was no match for the popularity of the iPod. The Zune was one of several interesting, if unsuccessful projects Allard led at Microsoft, including the Microsoft Kin, and the Courier, a book-style tablet that was later reimagined as the Surface Neo. Allard also co-created the original Xbox, arguably his biggest claim to fame at the company. ZeroOne will exist inside Amazon's larger devices and services division, which is led by Panos Panay, another Microsoft expat. Panay joined Amazon to lead the division in 2023, after several years overseeing the development of Surface hardware and Windows 11 at Microsoft. Since Panay joined the company, Amazon has launched a new lineup of Kindles and introduced Alexa+, its integration of generative AI into the well-known voice assistant. Hiring both Allard and Panay suggests Amazon plans to lean even harder into product development going forward.
India Today
6 days ago
- Business
- India Today
Nothing CEO Carl Pei says Apple is no longer creative, its products don't inspire him like they used to do
Carl Pei, co-founder and CEO of London-based tech company Nothing, has criticised Apple's current approach to innovation, saying the company that once inspired him no longer holds the same creative spark. In a recent interview with Wired, Pei reflected on what drove him into the tech industry and expressed disappointment at how the iPhone maker has evolved over the years. While praising Apple's early innovations like the iPod and the first iPhone, he believes the brand has now become 'very big and very corporate,' and that today's Apple 'is no longer inspirational for the younger generation.'advertisement'Personally, I was very inspired by Apple when I was younger — the first iPod, the first iPhone — that's the reason I'm in this industry. But now the creative companies of the past have become very big and very corporate, and they're no longer very creative', Pei told specifically criticised Apple's AI strategy, particularly the rollout of Apple Intelligence in 2024. While Apple made bold claims around its potential to redefine the smartphone experience, Pei feels the results have fallen short. 'Last year, they told a very big story about Apple Intelligence. Now, a year later, it's not much more than some generated emojis. So it's made consumers very sceptical,' he said. Although critical of Apple, Pei is optimistic about how AI will influence the future of smartphones. Rather than rushing features to market, he believes the focus should be on solving actual user problems. For him, AI should quietly power better products, not act as a buzzword to impress investors or media. 'We want the product to be the story,' he envisions a major shift in how people will use smartphones in the next decade. Instead of multiple apps, he sees a future where the operating system itself becomes the only app — an intelligent layer that understands the user deeply and takes proactive action. 'The system knows your situation, time, place, and schedule, and it suggests what you should do,' he explained. 'So it will be agentic and automated and proactive.'He admits this vision won't happen overnight. 'At this point, if we said, 'We have eliminated apps from smartphones,' no one would buy it,' Pei said. Instead, he sees this evolution playing out gradually over the next seven to ten years, with user trust and comfort being the key the industry works out how best to bring AI into everyday devices, Pei believes smaller companies like Nothing have an advantage when it comes to taking creative risks. 'We have to be — if we don't have industrial scale, we need creativity to remain competitive in this industry.' The company recently launched the Nothing Phone 3a series and continues to build out its ecosystem through its affordable sub-brand (CMF) and audio products.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
OpenAI buys iPhone architect's startup for $6.4bn
OpenAI is buying an untested startup for $6.4bn, the ChatGPT maker's biggest acquisition yet. The hardware startup, called io, was founded by Apple design guru Jony Ive, known best as one of the principal architects of the iPhone. Ive and OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, said in a blog post that their partnership has been two years in the making. 'A collaboration built upon friendship, curiosity and shared values quickly grew in ambition,' they wrote in the blog post, which offered scant details on upcoming devices. 'Tentative ideas and explorations evolved into tangible designs.' OpenAI's purchase of io is its biggest known acquisition yet. Ive and a cohort of other Apple alumni founded io one year ago, according to the blog post. It is part of Ive's bigger project called LoveFrom, which describes itself as a 'creative collective' made up of architects, artists, engineers, various types of designers, musicians and writers. Ive left Apple in 2019 after a 27-year career as one of the company's foremost product designers. He's known for simple and clean aesthetics that pay attention to small details like packaging and font. One of his early famous designs was the brightly colored bubble-shaped iMac computer. From there, he went on to design the first iPod, iPhone, MacBook Air, Apple Watch and AirPods. For his work on creating such distinctive products, Ive was knighted by Princess Anne at Buckingham Palace in 2012, a moment he called 'thrilling' and 'particularly humbling'. In Altman and Ive's blog post on Wednesday, they wrote that the io team will merge with OpenAI to work 'more intimately with the research, engineering and product teams in San Francisco'. Ive himself will not join OpenAI as an employee, but his company will 'take over design for all of OpenAI, including its software', according to Bloomberg. Since leaving Apple and starting LoveFrom, Ive has mostly remained quiet, and io has not debuted any hardware. His company's list of clients reportedly includes Christie's, Airbnb and Ferrari, though. Another project Ive has been working on is LoveFrom's headquarters in San Francisco, according to the New York Times. Ives told the paper he is designing the headquarters of the company he is developing with OpenAI. OpenAI has likewise yet to unveil a hardware device, but it has indicated it is heading in that direction. It has hired hardware and robotics staff, including Caitlin 'CK' Kalinowski, who headed Meta's augmented reality glasses initiative. In her LinkedIn announcement, Kalinowski wrote that her new role at OpenAI is to focus on 'robotics work and partnerships to help bring AI into the physical world'. OpenAI has also invested in the robot startup Physical Intelligence, which aims to bring 'general-purpose AI into the physical world'. Investors have been throwing money at OpenAI over the past couple of years, which is now valued at $300bn, according to Bloomberg. In March, it closed a funding round of $40bn led by the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank. Microsoft has a 49% stake in the AI company after investing $13bn in 2023. Along with io, OpenAI moved to make other mammoth acquisitions over the last year. It purchased the AI-assisted coding tool Windsurf for $3bn earlier this month and bought the real-time analytics database Rockset for an undisclosed sum last summer. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
