OpenAI has agreed to buy AI device startup io in a deal worth $6.4 billion, which will also see founder and former Apple designer Sir Jony Ive join the ChatGPT-maker. Ive, who was responsible for designing several iconic Apple products, including the iPhone, iPad and the iMac, will “assume deep design and creative responsibilities” at […]
OpenAI has agreed to buy AI device startup io in a deal worth $6.4 billion, which will also see founder and former Apple designer Sir Jony Ive join the ChatGPT-maker.
Ive, who was responsible for designing several iconic Apple products, including the iPhone, iPad and the iMac, will “assume deep design and creative responsibilities” at OpenAI, the firm said in its announcement.
Ive was already working alongside OpenAI founder Sam Altman as part of the creative collective LoveFrom. OpenAI already held a 23% stake in Ive’s start-up io, and now Altman has agreed to buy the firm in an all-stock deal.
Announcing the deal, Altman said: “AI is an incredible technology, but great tools require work at the intersection of technology, design, and understanding people and the world. No one can do this like Jony and his team; the amount of care they put into every aspect of the process is extraordinary.”
“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.”
It is unclear what kind of devices Ive will be tasked with creating, but in a video released to accompany the announcement, Altman said they have the “opportunity to completely re-imagine what it means to use a computer.”
Ive worked for Apple for 27 years and was a key part of Steve Jobs’ success at turning the company around after the founder returned to the tech giant in 1997.
Ive left the company in 2019 to launch LoveFrom with fellow designer Marc Newson, who famously designed the embryo chair. LoveFrom worked with a number of brands including Ferrari and Airbnb, while Ive also produced designs for the coronation of King Charles III.
Ive founded io in 2024 with Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey and Tang Tan, and the deal with OpenAI will see the ChatGPT-maker becomes a customer of LoveFrom.
“I have a growing sense that everything I have learned over the last 30 years has led me to this moment,” Ive said.
“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.
“I am reminded of a time, three decades ago, when I emigrated to America. As a designer, I was drawn to the exhilarating and innocent optimism of Silicon Valley, to collaborate with people driven to create amazing products that elevate humanity.”
Ive has already reportedly developed a prototype device for an AI hardware system which aims to be more intuitive than the iPhone, he said in the video. Altman called the mystery device the “coolest piece of technology that the world will ever see” but few specifics were shared.
