In short: Jony Ive, the legendary designer behind iconic merchandise just like the iMac, iPod, and iPhone, is engaged on a mysterious AI {hardware} machine in partnership with Sam Altman’s OpenAI. That might not be recent information, however what have been beforehand whispers have now been confirmed by the person himself in a brand new report.
The New York Occasions talked about the existence of this stealth mission in a brand new profile on Ive printed this week. In response to the report, Ive met OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for dinner final 12 months after an introduction from Airbnb chief Brian Chesky. Over a number of meals, the pair hatched a plan to create a brand new kind of computing machine powered by generative AI. The core thought is that AI’s quickly advancing capabilities allow new frontiers for a way we work together with computer systems and software program.
In response to the report, the duo mentioned how generative AI has “made it doable to create a brand new computing machine as a result of the expertise may do extra for customers than conventional software program because it may summarize and prioritize messages, establish and identify objects like crops and ultimately discipline advanced requests like reserving journey.”
If this sounds acquainted, it is as a result of it has been tried earlier than. The Rabbit R1 launched earlier this 12 months was mentioned to have been skilled on 1000’s of interfaces to assist automate processes like reserving flights, tickets to films, and even calling you an Uber. Sadly, the machine by no means took off, similar to the Humane Ai Pin it aimed to one-up.
Maybe Ive and Altman’s enterprise might fare higher. It is managed to carry on some key expertise; the present crew of 10 staff consists of Tang Tan and Evans Hankey, two former Apple design leaders who labored intently with Ive on blockbusters like the unique iPhone. Ive’s agency LoveFrom is spearheading the product’s design, the report says. However then once more, the Humane Ai Pin was additionally designed and launched by ex-Apple staff.
To deal with their operations, Ive and crew dropped a cool $60 million in February on a 32,000-square-foot constructing known as the Little Fox Theater in San Francisco. The crew was additionally noticed schlepping in chairs and bins with the “earliest concepts” for the product have been seen carried round.
Bankrolling this bold endeavor is not any small feat both. It is claimed that Ive and Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective have already invested, with plans to lift as much as $1 billion extra from buyers by 12 months’s finish.
As for what this secret product goes to be, particulars proceed to be extraordinarily scarce. LoveFrom co-founder Marc Newson admitted to the NYT that the ultimate type and launch timing are nonetheless being labored out.
