Will iPhone Designer Sir Jony Ive's OpenAI Move Hurt Apple?

AI systems can now see, think and understand language – yet users still interact with them through keyboards and touchscreens designed for an older era.

This disconnect has created fierce competition amongst technology companies to develop the first truly AI-native hardware.

But as innovative devices roll out across leading tech giants, from smartphones to Vision Pro headsets, AI develops again and again – and now, the challenge for the companies is increasing pressure to identify hardware opportunities beyond smartphones as AI evolution only speeds up. 

However, as a result of this disconnect between AI potential and user experience, a rare opportunity has blossomed for companies willing to be brave enough to reimagine how people interact with intelligent systems.

Spotting this opportunity, OpenAI has acquired io, a hardware startup founded by Sir Jony Ive, the former Apple design executive. 

“I think we have the opportunity here to kind of completely re-imagine what it means to use a computer,” Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, says.

The risk and reward for OpenAI

According to the BBC, Apple shares fell more than 2% following the merger announcement, reflecting investor concerns about competitive threats to the technology company's hardware business – but Sam’s vision is optimistic: “AI is an incredible technology, but great tools require work at the intersection of technology, design and understanding people and the world.

“No one can do this like Jony and his team; the amount of care they put into every aspect of the process is extraordinary.”

Sir Jony worked at Apple for more than 30 years and helped revive products including the iPhone and iPod.

He then left the company in 2019 to start his own, LoveForm, which has worked with companies including Airbnb and Moncler.

Sir Jony and Sam wrote in a joint statement: “Two years ago, Jony Ive and the creative collective LoveFrom quietly began collaborating with Sam Altman and the team at OpenAI.

“A collaboration built upon friendship, curiosity and shared values quickly grew in ambition. Tentative ideas and explorations evolved into tangible designs.

“The ideas seemed important and useful. They were optimistic and hopeful. They were inspiring. They made everyone smile. They reminded us of a time when we celebrated human achievement, grateful for new tools that helped us learn, explore and create.

“It became clear that our ambitions to develop, engineer and manufacture a new family of products demanded an entirely new company. And so, one year ago, Jony founded io with Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey and Tang Tan.

“We gathered together the best hardware and software engineers, the best technologists, physicists, scientists, researchers and experts in product development and manufacturing. Many of us have worked closely for decades.”

Now, with Sir Jony and his team, Sam says the goal involves creating a “family of devices” designed specifically for AI applications.

Sir Jony will assume design responsibilities across both OpenAI and io operations.

In the video announcing the merger, he said he believed the world was on the “brink of a new generation of technology.”

Together, they will integrate the hardware development team with OpenAI's research and product divisions, which are based in San Francisco.

The ‘companions’ conversation

Already, an internal chat between Sam Altman and OpenAI staff has reportedly occurred where Sam is setting a target of shipping 100 million AI ‘companions’.

This gadget is reportedly designed to be entirely aware of a user’s surroundings and even their life. While they have mostly talked about a single device, Sam said it could be more of a “family of devices”.

Sir Jony Ive, dubbed it “a new design movement”.

Sam even reportedly told his team the OpenAI device is “the chance to do the biggest thing we’ve ever done as a company here” and after living with the prototype, says it will be “the coolest piece of technology that the world will have ever seen”.

What will Sir Jony bring from Apple to OpenAI that’s unique?

What is already unique about the collaboration is that it addresses fundamental limitations in current AI deployment methods.

Most AI applications operate through web browsers, mobile apps or software interfaces originally designed for traditional computing tasks. However, these approaches fail to leverage AI capabilities for natural interaction methods, including voice, gesture and contextual awareness.

This is where Sir Jony comes in: as a developer of consumer electronics at Apple, he provides expertise in manufacturing, supply chain management and product design at scale.

“I am reminded of a time, three decades ago, when I emigrated to America,” he says.

“As a designer, I was drawn to the exhilarating and innocent optimism of Silicon Valley, to collaborate with people driven to create amazing products that elevate humanity.” 

While companies including Apple and Meta have demonstrated the commercial potential for hardware products that successfully integrate advanced technology with user experience design, OpenAI is doing something different.

Its hardware initiative differs from these approaches by focusing specifically on AI-native interfaces rather than adapting existing device categories.

Furthermore, the company's access to advanced language models (LMs) and multimodal AI systems provides technical capabilities that were unavailable during previous hardware development cycles.

“What it means to use technology can change in a profound way,” Sam says.

“I hope we can bring some of the delight, wonder and creative spirit that I first felt using an Apple computer 30 years ago.”

While Sir Jony expresses anxiety and excitement about his new role, he says: “The values and vision of Sam and the teams at OpenAI and io are a rare inspiration.

“I have a growing sense that everything I have learned over the last 30 years has led me to this moment.”

To read the full article in the magazine, click HERE.