OpenAI Buys Jony Ive’s io For $6.5 Billion

OpenAI is acquiring hardware firm io — created by legendary iPhone and iPod designer Jony Ive — in a $6.5 billion deal.

The Big Picture: For the past couple of years, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Ive have been toying around with ideas for a hardware device that can define the AI era — like the iPhone did for smartphones. By combining the powers of Altman (who really needs OpenAI to turn a profit) and Ive (who has some serious misgivings about smartphones), there’s enough motivation to possibly make that ambition a reality.

Behind the Curtain: OpenAI’s purchase of io is the company’s biggest acquisition ever.

• OpenAI is paying a total of $6.5 billion for the startup — it already owned 23%, so the actual transaction is $5 billion (partly by giving Ive’s design firm LoveFrom a stake in OpenAI).
• io’s 55 engineers and researchers will join OpenAI’s ranks, with Ive becoming the de facto design head of the AI firm. OpenAI will also be an official client of LoveFrom, which will independently work on creative and design across the entire company.
• Altman and Ive will work together on “a new family of products” that “elevate humanity” — as expected, there are no details on what those will be, but they hope to share more next year.

The Future: One thing is almost certain about the hypothetical device: it probably won’t have a screen — or at most, a very minimal one. Both Altman and Ive have criticized the way screens distract people and impact their behavior. Still, they remain closely tied to smartphones. Most people use ChatGPT on their phones, and Ive has never created anything as influential as the iPhone. Both men are eager to change that.

Prediction: A hit device out of the partnership could lead to the rise of “ambient computing” that uses AI to automatically take in information, autonomously complete tasks, and “naturally” communicate with its user. In other words, it would be OpenAI’s iPhone moment (or at least more successful than Humane’s AI Pin).