Exclusive from Information assures that Jony Ive will work with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to create “hardware for a new era of artificial intelligence”. Is it a smartphone that would obviously compete with Apple in terms of design and innovation?

In case you don’t know Sir Jonathan Paul Ive, let’s say we’re talking about who he was He has been Apple’s head of industrial design for almost 30 years. The recipient of countless awards, he was responsible for the design of a dozen Apple products, including the most famous iPod, MacBook Pro, iPad and the best-selling iPhone, which also caused a revolution due to its design.

In addition to hardware, the designer also designed Apple’s new headquarters in Cupertino (yes, a spaceship) and led Apple’s Human Interface software teams and specifically iOS operating system, the key to selling devices connected to their apps and the App Store. It is difficult to judge whether Ive created Apple or vice versa, but there is no doubt about his relevance given the importance of the design of an electronic product to sales.

Jony Ive in OpenAI?

I left Apple in 2019 after 27 years in society to attend to one’s company LoveForm inspired – said – Steve Jobs and focused – of course – on industrial design. It’s unclear who left whom, and whether the distinct continuity of his latest designs influenced his departure from Apple. In any case, the engineer maintained contacts and worked with Apple until 2022 as an external consultant.

Ive is a personal friend of Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI) and here he says Information what’s happening “exploring opportunities for collaboration” in “new hardware for the AI ​​era”. It should be said that Altman has previous experience working with Ive’s former colleagues on new products, and that is that Ive’s first employee at Apple, Thomas Meyerhoffer, designed the AI-powered Orb human eye scanner through Tools for Humanity, a hardware startup created for AI. by Altman.

Masayoshi Son will also be in the mix as a participant in talks about the new project. Less known to the general public, he is a high-ranking executive from his position as CEO of SoftBank and is said to have directed a tremendous $140 billion for AI projects. A great ally.

There are no device type details. smartphone? A mixed reality device? Is it related to the Metaverse? We’ll see. In all cases we should a “Jony Ive vs. Apple” that would be enough for editorials of all kinds, because the designer was everything in the Cupertino firm.