The union of AI and hardware is strength: Openai throws the bow to the Jony Ive

Openai wants the software and hardwarea startup co -founded by Jon Ive, who was Apple design chief in a transaction valued at around 6,500 million dollars.

This is the biggest acquisition closed to date by OpenAIthat he wants to clearly go beyond the software to overwhelm its models of AI on devices that, carrying the rubric of the legendary Jony Ive, could eventually mark a before and after in the technology industry (and perhaps relegate to the background to the ubiquitous smartphones).

The Purchase of IO by OpenAiwhich currently has an approximate value of 300,000 million dollars, has devalued Apple’s titles in stock marketswhere the alliance of the chatgpt matrix with one of the most illustrious employees of the apple company is perceived as a possible threat to those of Cupertino. OpenAi’s shares collapsed yesterday 1.8% in the stock market.

Even if the two parties involved in the agreement have not revealed details about the products they have in the portfolio, it seems that Sam Altman, CEO of Openai, and Lovefrom, the design company of Jony Ive, would have been developed in secret during the last two years a device that would take the consumer beyond the screens (and that could replace, therefore, to smartphones).

“It’s about something totally new never seen before”Altman says in statements to Bloomberg On the products in which Openai is working alimon with Jony Ive, which will presumably leave the shell in 2026.

«In the same way that the smartphone did not disappear to the laptop, I don’t think our first hardware device will translate into smartphone disappearance«, Altman points out in any case.

The device in which Openai and Jony Ive work could mark a before and after in the consumer technology market

According to the CEO of OpenAi, the union of the company that leads with the Startup of Jony Ive Look at the intersection of quality and innovation. Altman insists that to release all the potential of the AI, “in a new type of computer format” will have to be supported “that in which Openai and Jony Ive are currently working.

The one who was Apple design chief, where he worked on emblematic devices that would change forever the future of the technological industry such as the iPhone, the iPad and the IPOD, says, on the other hand, to have the firm conviction that Everything he has learned during the last 30 years has taken him to the moment and the place where he is now.

«AI is an incredible technology, but great tools need to work since the intersection of technology, design and understanding of people and the world. And no one is in a better position to work in this activity segment than Jony Ive and his team. The use of technology can really change very deeply, ”says Altman.

The fact that Altman has returned to the consumer technology market by Openai’s hand adds even more pressure to Applewhich has not made great advances in the field of AI. In addition, and although Apple and Openai have been to date partners (since Chatgpt is integrated, in fact, in the ecosystem of the apple company), everything indicates that in the future what was born as an alliance could become rivalry.

The news of IO’s acquisition by OpenAi has not surprised too much in the technology industrybecause the collaboration of the company led by Sam Altman with Jony Ive, who cut Amarras with Apple in 2019, has already been on the table since 2023. And recently circulated rumors about an eventual acquisition of IO by OpenAi.