OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and former Apple designer Jony Ive have said that their first artificial intelligence-powered hardware device may launch in two years or less, a confirmation many had been waiting for from the duo, who have kept the mysterious product under wraps.
“Finally, we have the first prototypes,” Altman said in a video posted Tuesday by Emerson Collective, which invests in entrepreneurs. “I can’t believe how jaw-droppingly good the work is and how exciting it is.”
Altman and Ive appeared on stage with Laurene Powell Jobs, wife of the late Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs and founder of Emerson Collective.
Ive indicated that while the device is expected to launch in two years or less, hardware takes time and the development process is often unpredictable.
OpenAI’s hardware device is perhaps the most closely kept secret in Silicon Valley right now, and nobody knows exactly what the company is developing, though it’s not a smartphone but could end up being a screen-less device.
In his own words, Altman described the design as “simple and beautiful and playful,” adding, “There was an earlier prototype that we were quite excited about, but I did not have any feeling of, ‘I want to pick up that thing and take a bite out of it,’ and then finally we got there all of a sudden.”
Without revealing much about the project, Altman said the company is targeting a calmer “vibe”, comparing the device to a smartphone. “You can then go for a vibe that is not like walking through Times Square and getting bumped into and having all this stuff compete for your attention,” Altman said. “But, like, sitting in the most beautiful cabin by a lake and in the mountains and sort of just enjoying the peace and calm.”
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Earlier this year, OpenAI acquired Ive’s startup, io, for $6.4 billion, generating buzz within Silicon Valley’s inner circles, particularly around what Altman hopes to achieve in the devices business. Ive, a former Apple industrial designer best known for creating game-changing products such as the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, is at the helm of developing a series of consumer AI devices. The London-born designer left Apple in 2019 to found LoveFrom, a design firm that has worked with Ferrari, Airbnb, and the luxury Italian fashion brand Moncler.
In the past few months, OpenAI has hired several former Apple employees to work on the mysterious AI hardware. This past week, Bloomberg reported that the ChatGPT maker brought in 40 new people to the company in the last month, many of whom come from Apple.
While Ive’s former employer, Apple, is struggling to match the success of the iPhone, OpenAI and other big players in Silicon Valley are working on new types of hardware devices, whether smart glasses, pendants, or smart rings, that are designed from scratch as AI-first products. However, no one has yet been able to make these devices as capable or compelling as today’s smartphones.
