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OpenAI plans to make AI-powered hardware devices that will be powerful and intelligent and designed by Ive’s team at the company.
OpenAI is buying the Jony Ive company to make AI products
Sam Altman and Jony Ive have confirmed their close association and the official deal that brings Ive and his company within OpenAI. The AI giant has completed a deal worth $6.5 billion to acquire Ive’s company, thereby giving them access to a whole range of AI hardware and software products in the coming years.
Altman and Ive have even teamed up for the big announcement video where they try to highlight the ambitions of this deal and what Ivy aspires to achieve by one working with an AI company like OpenAI.
OpenAI Making AI Computers: Not Shocking
AI-powered devices are not new and we have seen the likes of AI Pin and Rabbit in the last 12 months. Altman and Co. clearly see that’s where the future is headed but will it be in the form of a smartphone, not really.
We could be looking at an AI gadget that resembles the one used in the popular sci-fi movie Her. The 9-minute long video seems like a preview of things to come but you can sense the excitement in Ive, who will be hoping to repeat the success of iPhone and MacBook Pro in the AI era.
Going by the conversation Altman and Ivy are having in this video, it seems the hardware product is already in development stage but its mass production and availability could stretch into 2026 which is not that far away either.
Altman is thrilled to be partnering with Ivy, as the post says, and it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the feelings are mutual. Ivy’s firm will merge with OpenAI as per the big deal, and Ivy will be entrusted with the design and creative parts of iO, the AI device likely to ship in collaboration with these two giants.
Altman talks about making a gadget that is accessible to everyone, which will be an uncharted territory for the former Apple chief designer but he surely looks keen to make it work.
The prospect of AI-powered hardware comes with mixed feelings but this seems different and we are eager to see how the Altman-Ivy duo succeed where others have failed.
Wake Up, Apple
Ivy joining Altman at OpenAI feels like a pivotal moment in the AI race and sadly Apple is nowhere in the picture. Surely, the Cupertino-based giant would have preferred to have Ivy on their side as they look to tackle the AI struggles and not only conceive a working Siri AI version by next year but also have products besides the iPhones to make it work.
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