We knew that Jony Ive’s studio LoveFrom had an ongoing partnership with OpenAI, just as it admits that it’s working in cahoots with Ferrari in Modena. Up until now, the fruits of that partnership had remained tightly under wraps. No longer, for the silence has now been broken.
In a joint statement issued today, Jony Ive and Sam Altman have announced the creation of io, a joint venture that points to the imminent arrival of new computing products designed to take advantage of the true potential of AI. Up until this point, Ive has been best-known for his work on many generations of Apple’s hardware, whilst OpenAI’s co-founder has been the public face of ChatGPT.
Open AI is at the forefront in AI research
What they come up with together is, right now, anyone’s guess. As Ive and Altman write, after two years of ‘quiet collaboration,’ the time seems right for the announcement. ‘This is an extraordinary moment. Computers are now seeing, thinking and understanding. Despite this unprecedented capability, our experience remains shaped by traditional products and interfaces.’
The new company, io, was founded a year ago. ‘It became clear that our ambitions to develop, engineer and manufacture a new family of products demanded an entirely new company,’ say Ive and Altman. Along with co-founders Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey and Tang Tan, all former colleagues at Apple, Ive’s new company continued to work on prototypes for OpenAI.
Now it seems OpenAI has swallowed the start-up, a lucrative deal that will retain LoveFrom’s aesthetic involvement in all things OpenAI, whilst merging io into the AI specialist’s future plans. Effectively, this makes Ive the de facto design leader or chief creative officer of ChatGPT, a role he famously held at Apple.
To set up the company, Ive writes that ‘we gathered together the best hardware and software engineers, the best technologists, physicists, scientists, researchers and experts in product development and manufacturing. Many of us have worked closely for decades.’ That dream team will now integrate with OpenAI’s own research, engineering and product teams in San Francisco.
The implications are not hard to extract. As Altman says, ‘What it means to use technology can change in a profound way. I hope we can bring some of the delight, wonder and creative spirit that I first felt using an Apple Computer 30 years ago.’
For his part, Ive seems to acknowledge the importance and primacy of AI in today’s tech landscape. ’I have a growing sense that everything I have learned over the last 30 years has led me to this moment,’ he says, ‘While I am both anxious and excited about the responsibility of the substantial work ahead, I am so grateful for the opportunity to be part of such an important collaboration. The values and vision of Sam and the teams at OpenAI and io are a rare inspiration.’
As yet, there’s no timetable as to what will happen next, although the floodgates of speculation will no doubt be opened wide. Next up, what’s happening with Ferrari?
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