Tim Hardwick
Former Apple designer Jony Ive and OpenAI's Sam Altman are in talks with SoftBank's Masayoshi Son to launch a $1 billion venture to create the “iPhone of artificial intelligence,” the Financial Times reports. The news follows a report on Wednesday claiming that Ive and Altman are discussing creating an artificial intelligence gadget.
According to the FT, Altman wants Quince's design agency LoveFrom to help design the ChatGPT creator's first consumer device. From the paywalled report:
Altman and Ive brainstormed in a designer's studio in San Francisco about what a new consumer product based on OpenAI technology would look like, sources said .
They hope to create a more natural and intuitive user experience for interacting with artificial intelligence, just as the iPhone's innovations in touch computing unlocked the potential of a mass market mobile Internet.
>They say According to him, the process of identifying a design or device is still in the early stages, and many different ideas are under consideration.
Son, the founder and CEO of Softbank, has been involved in some of the projects. discussions that centered around the creation of a design company based on Softbank, Altman's OpenAI and design agency Ive LoveFrom.
Son is reported to play a central role in British chip designer Arm, in which the Japanese conglomerate owns a 90% stake. According to the report, Son is also proposing to invest $1 billion in the venture.
Ive is said to have been concerned about the compulsive nature of smartphone users, and the designer sees the project as an opportunity to create a way to interact with computers that is less dependent on screens.
Discussions are considered “serious” but a deal has not yet been agreed and a formal announcement could be months away, the people warned. with knowledge of the matter. Any resulting device would likely be years away from launch.
I left Apple to found LoveFrom in 2019, recruiting at least four of my former Apple colleagues to work with it at the firm, including Wang Xi and Chris Wilson. , Patch Kessler and Jeff Tiller.
Tags: Financial Times, Jony Ive[93 comments]
