Sam Altman from OpenAI, Jony Ive, a former Apple designer, and Masayoshi Son from SoftBank are working together to create a device that may eventually replace smartphones.
Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI, has spent several days considering the necessity for a novel type of gadget in order for the company’s generative artificial intelligence products to be successful. The iPhone, iPod, and MacBook Air were all created by Jony Ive, who left Apple in 2019. Since then, he has been thinking about what the next great computing gadget might be.
According to two people familiar with the discussions, the two men and their businesses are now working together to create a device that would replace smartphones and deliver the advantages of artificial intelligence in a different form factor, free from the constraints of the rectangular screen that has been the dominant computing tool for the past ten years.
The idea was referred to as in its early stages, although Mr. Altman and Mr. Ive reportedly generated some preliminary concepts and sought up to $1 billion in funding from Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank, a Japanese technology investor. With SoftBank’s assistance, the two men were able to access Arm’s semiconductor knowledge. Mr. Son purchased Arm, a British chip design business, in 2016 and it recently went public.
Uncertainty surrounds the project’s organizational setup. Approximately 400 researchers, engineers, and support personnel work for Mr. Altman’s San Francisco-based startup, OpenAI, while about 30 industrial and software designers and a few engineers work for Mr. Ive’s San Francisco-based design firm, LoveFrom.
The Financial Times and The Information, two tech publications, have previously reported on the talks, which have been ongoing for much of this year.
The collaboration illustrates how generative AI is challenging Silicon Valley’s established order. Companies have been rushing to reimagine their industries in an effort to take advantage of ChatGPT, an online chatbot developed by OpenAI that can create emails, presentations, poetry, and even computer code.
Many tech leaders think that the technology has the potential to usher in a new computer paradigm they refer to as “ambient computing.” They envision a future device in the shape of something as straightforward as a pendant or glasses that can process the world in real time utilizing a sophisticated virtual assistant capable of receiving queries and processing images rather than typing on smartphones and shooting pictures.
Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, two former employees of Apple, formed the Humane firm, in which Mr. Altman had previously invested. They intend to introduce their product, which they describe as a “disappearing computer,” later this year.
Mr. Altman might be driven to create his own gadget in order to free OpenAI from having to rely on Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android for distribution. Tech behemoths like Facebook and Amazon have found it difficult to rely on other platforms since Apple and Google take a percentage of sales made on those platforms. Apple has also implemented privacy restrictions, which have a negative impact on ad sales.
But failure is common on the path to developing new hardware. Both Amazon and Facebook attempted to create their own smartphones but gave up after seeing little success.
Few people in Silicon Valley have more experience creating devices than Mr. Ive. He was instrumental in the creation of the Apple Watch, the only significant new product the business has released since the passing of Steve Jobs in 2011. Mr. Ive found LoveFrom in 2019 after leaving the firm, although he also secured a multiyear contract to stay on as an employee of Apple.
Mr. Ive and Apple decided to end their collaboration last year. According to two people with knowledge of the situation, when Apple and Mr. Ive been discussing the termination of their working partnership, they stipulated that there would be no restrictions on the products he may create in the future.