OpenAI is buying Jony Ive's AI hardware company | The deal is valued at nearly $6.5 billion.

OpenAI is buying Jony Ive’s AI hardware company | The Verge

Ive’s company is called io.

theverge.com

OpenAI is snapping up io—the AI-hardware startup founded by ex-Apple design guru Jony Ive and fellow Apple vets—in a deal pegged at about $6.5 billion. Around 55 engineers and developers will join OpenAI (Ive himself stays with his design firm LoveFrom), and LoveFrom will now lead design on all of OpenAI’s products.

Sam Altman says the first gadget, due in 2026, won’t “kill” the smartphone but will be a totally new, pocket-sized, screen-free, context-aware device. Both Altman and Ive gush that this mash-up of top-tier AI research, engineering firepower, and Ive’s legendary design chops could be “the coolest piece of technology the world has ever seen.”