Jony Ive confirms that he is working on a new device with OpenAI

Jony Ive has confirmed that he is working with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on an AI hardware project. The confirmation came today as part of Ive’s profile The New York Timesnearly a year after a possible collaboration between Altman and the longtime Apple designer was first reported.

There are not many details on the project. It is reported that Ive met Altman through Brian Chesky, who is the CEO of Airbnb, and this business is funded by Ive and Emerson Collective, the company of Laurene Powell Jobs. I Times reports that it may raise $1 billion by the end of the year, but does not say anything about Masayoshi Son, the CEO of SoftBank who was rumored last year to have invested $1 billion in the project.

The project only has 10 employees at the moment, but they include Tang Tan and Evans Hankey, two key people who worked with Ive on the iPhone. LoveFrom, Ive’s company, is leading the development of the device, according to the report. The team is reportedly now working on a five-square-foot office building in San Francisco, which is part of a $90 million piece of real estate that Ive bought in the same part of the city.

As for the device itself? I Times says Ive and Altman discussed “how generative AI has made it possible to create new computing devices because technology can do more for users than traditional software” because of its ability to handle complex applications. Last year it was rumored to be inspired by touchscreen technology and the first iPhone.

But it sounds like a few details have been nailed down. LoveFrom founder Marc Newson told the Times whether an AI product – and when it will come to market – is still under consideration.