OpenAI’s Sam Altman, former Apple exec Jony Ive talk about new AI device with staff – report

OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman gave his staff a preview of the devices he is developing to build with former Apple designer Jony Ive, paving plans to ship 100 million AI “companions” that he hopes will become a part of life, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The news comes on the heels of Sir Jony Ive, the former Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) executive best known for his design work on the iPhone and Mac, joining OpenAI in a $6.5B deal, which was announced on Wednesday. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)-backed OpenAI is paying $5B in stock to acquire Ives’ hardware startup, io. The remaining $1.5B comes from a 23% stake that OpenAI acquired in io in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Altman told staff that they had “the chance to do the biggest thing we’ve ever done as a company here,” the report added.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.

Ive and his design consultancy firm LoveFrom will assume deep design and creative responsibilities across OpenAI and io, OpenAI had said on Wednesday.

The acquisition has the potential to add $1T in value to OpenAI, the report added.

Altman and Ive provided a few hints at the secret project they have been working on. The product will be capable of being fully aware of a user’s surroundings and life. It will be unobtrusive, able to be placed in one’s pocket or on one’s desk, and would be a third core device a person would put on their desk after a MacBook Pro and an iPhone, according to the report.

The media outlet reported earlier that the product would not be a phone, and that Ive and Altman’s aim is to help users let go of screens. Altman said the device also is not a pair of glasses, and that Ive had been skeptical about building something to wear on the body, the report noted.

Ive referenced “a new design movement.” Altman noted that it would amount to a “family of devices,” showing his liking for how Apple has long integrated its hardware and software offerings.

Altman told OpenAI employees that stealth will be vital for their success to avoid rivals copying the product before it is ready.

For months, Ive’s team has been talking to vendors who will be able to ship the device at scale.

“We’re not going to ship 100 million devices literally on day one,” said Altman, forecasting that OpenAI would ship that large number of high-quality devices “faster than any company has ever shipped 100 million of something new before.” Altman said the aim is to release a device by late next year.

Ive and Altman also provided details about how their collaboration grew in the last several years. About 18 months ago, OpenAI’s Vice President of Product Peter Welinder started working with Ive’s team. The two parties became excited about a specific device last fall, the report noted.

The original plan was that Ive’s startup would develop and sell its own devices using OpenAI’s technology. However, Altman said he realized that would not work and that knew the two companies would have to be combined because the device was not only an accessory but a central facet of the user relationship with OpenAI, the report stated.

Apple and Alphabet’s (GOOG) (GOOGL) Google have potentially struggled to keep pace with AI innovations, and many investors see the two companies as the main providers through which billions of people will access AI tools and chatbots.Developing a device is the only way OpenAI and other AI companies could be able to interact with consumers directly, the report noted.

Altman said he and Ive came to believe that current devices would not work. While ChatGPT changed people’s expectations about the power of technology, it is still being used in an old ways — holding a laptop, opening a website, and typing something in and waiting, the report noted.

“It is not the sci-fi dream of what AI could do to enable you in all the ways that I think the models are capable of,” said Altman.