Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is embarking on a new venture with esteemed collaborators. He has joined forces with Jony Ive, Apple’s former chief design officer, and Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, to develop an innovative AI device startup.
The collaboration was first reported by The Information in September 2023 and was officially confirmed by Ive in a profile published by The New York Times. This powerhouse team brings together Altman’s AI expertise, Ive’s legendary design prowess, and Powell Jobs’ business acumen, sparking excitement about the potential breakthroughs this startup may achieve.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky facilitated a pivotal introduction between Sam Altman and Jony Ive last year. This meeting laid the groundwork for their forthcoming collaboration on an innovative AI device startup.
Jony Ive’s design firm, LoveFrom, had existing ties with Airbnb, having collaborated on multiple projects. Ive founded LoveFrom in 2019, following a storied 30-year tenure at Apple. During his time at Apple, Ive spearheaded the design of iconic products, including the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.
Over several dinner meetings, Jony Ive and Sam Altman explored the possibility of revolutionizing computing with a novel AI-centered device. Their conversations sparked a compelling vision, and ultimately, they decided to join forces to bring this innovative project to life, according to The New York Times.
Sam Altman’s latest venture has been quietly securing private funding, with investments from Jony Ive and Emerson Collective, a socially conscious investing and philanthropic organization founded by Laurene Powell Jobs. According to The New York Times, the startup is poised to raise an impressive $1 billion in startup funding by the end of 2024.
Marc Newson, co-founder of LoveFrom alongside Jony Ive, shared with The New York Times that the details of the product and its launch timeline are still being determined. The company is taking a thoughtful approach to development.
This upcoming device has been generating buzz since October 2023, when Sam Altman expressed his enthusiasm for AI-driven devices during The Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live event.
Sam Altman expressed optimism about AI-driven devices at The Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live event. In a conversation with tech columnist Joanna Stern, Altman shared his thoughts, “I’m interested in this topic, I think it is possible.”
He emphasized the transformative power of emerging technologies and the early stages of exploration. “I do think every sufficiently big, new technology enables some new computing platform. But lots of ideas, but all at the very nascent stage.”
In October 2023, Sam Altman shared his perspective with Joanna Stern, stating that AI devices wouldn’t surpass smartphones.
“Smartphones are great. I have no interest in trying to go compete with a smartphone. It’s a phenomenal thing at what it does. But I think it’s well worth the effort of talking about or thinking about what we can make now that before we had computers that could think, or computers that could understand whatever you wanna call, was not possible. And if the answer is nothing, it would be a little bit disappointing.” Altman said
Sam Altman and Jony Ive aren’t alone in recognizing the potential of AI-centric devices. Former Apple employees Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno also spotted an opportunity, co-founding Humane in 2019. Their first product, the Ai Pin, launched in November, but its capabilities received a lukewarm reception, garnering disappointing reviews upon rollout.
According to a Bloomberg report in May, Humane is exploring a potential sale, with a targeted valuation between $750 million and $1 billion. Notably, this figure is slightly lower than the company’s valuation of $850 million in the previous year, as reported by The Information.
The Verge recently reported that Humane’s Ai Pin device saw more returns than purchases from May to August, citing internal sales data. Humane spokesperson Zoz Cuccias responded to the inquiry by declining to comment on financial data and referring The Verge to the company’s legal team.
Requests for comment sent to Sam Altman’s team at OpenAI and Laurene Powell Jobs’ representatives at Emerson Collective by Business Insider remained unanswered, having been submitted outside standard business hours.
