Jony Ive confirms he’s engaged on a brand new gadget with OpenAI

Jony Ive has confirmed that he’s working with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on an AI {hardware} undertaking. The affirmation got here at present as a part of a profile of Ive in The New York Occasions, practically a 12 months after the opportunity of a collaboration between Altman and the longtime Apple designer was first reported on.

There aren’t a whole lot of particulars on the undertaking. Ive reportedly met Altman by way of Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb, and the enterprise is being funded by Ive and the Emerson Collective, Laurene Powell Jobs’ firm. The Occasions studies it might increase $1 billion in funding by the top of the 12 months, however makes no point out of Masayoshi Son, the SoftBank CEO rumored final 12 months to have invested $1 billion within the undertaking.

The undertaking solely has 10 workers at the moment, however they embody Tang Tan and Evans Hankey, two key individuals who labored with Ive on the iPhone. LoveFrom, Ive’s firm, is main the gadget’s design, in response to the report. The crew is reportedly now understanding of a 32,000-square-foot workplace constructing in San Francisco, a part of a $90 million strip of actual property that Ive has purchased up on single metropolis block.

As for the gadget itself? The Occasions says that Ive and Altman mentioned “how generative AI made it attainable to create a brand new computing gadget as a result of the expertise might do extra for customers than conventional software program” as a result of its capability to deal with difficult requests. Final 12 months it was rumored to be impressed by touchscreen expertise and the unique iPhone.

Nevertheless it seems like few specifics are nailed down. LoveFrom cofounder Marc Newson advised the Occasions that the AI product — and when it’ll come to market — are nonetheless being found out.