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In brief: Jony Ive, the legendary designer behind iconic products like the iMac, iPod, and iPhone, is working on a mysterious AI hardware device in partnership with Sam Altman's OpenAI. That may not be fresh news, but what were previously whispers have now been confirmed by the man himself in a new report.
The New York Times mentioned the existence of this stealth project in a new profile on Ive published this week. According to the report, Ive met OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for dinner last year after an introduction from Airbnb chief Brian Chesky. Over multiple meals, the pair hatched a plan to create a new type of computing device powered by generative AI. The core idea is that AI's rapidly advancing capabilities enable new frontiers for how we interact with computers and software.
According to the report, the duo discussed how generative AI has "made it possible to create a new computing device because the technology could do more for users than traditional software since it could summarize and prioritize messages, identify and name objects like plants and eventually field complex requests like booking travel."
If this sounds familiar, it's because it's been attempted before. The Rabbit R1 released earlier this year was said to have been trained on thousands of interfaces to help automate processes like booking flights, tickets to movies, and even calling you an Uber. Unfortunately, the device never took off, just like the Humane Ai Pin it aimed to one-up.
Perhaps Ive and Altman's venture may fare better. It's managed to bring on some key talent; the current team of 10 employees includes Tang Tan and Evans Hankey, two former Apple design leaders who worked closely with Ive on blockbusters like the original iPhone. Ive's firm LoveFrom is spearheading the product's design, the report says. But then again, the Humane Ai Pin was also designed and launched by ex-Apple employees.
To house their operations, Ive and team dropped a cool $60 million in February on a 32,000-square-foot building called the Little Fox Theater in San Francisco. The team was also spotted schlepping in chairs and boxes with the "earliest ideas" for the product were seen carried around.
Bankrolling this ambitious undertaking is no small feat either. It's claimed that Ive and Laurene Powell Jobs' Emerson Collective have already invested, with plans to raise up to $1 billion more from investors by year's end.
As for what this secret product is going to be, details continue to be extremely scarce. LoveFrom co-founder Marc Newson admitted to the NYT that the final form and release timing are still being worked out.