LONDON — Leading artificial intelligence service provider OpenAI on Wednesday revealed a partnership with Jony Ive, former chief design officer of Apple, in a bid to bring “delight, wonder and creative spirit” to the company, according to OpenAI chief executive officer and cofunder Sam Altman.
The collaboration will see io, an AI devices start-up Ive founded last year alongside Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey and Tang Tan, merge with OpenAI in a deal that’s valued at around $6.5 billion, to “develop, engineer and manufacture a new family of products.”
Following the merger, Ive and his design company LoveFrom, will assume deep design and creative responsibilities across OpenAI and io.
“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 Ive and his team; the amount of care they put into every aspect of the process is extraordinary,” Altman said.
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The tech entrepreneur believes that “we can bring some of the delight, wonder and creative spirit that I first felt using an Apple computer 30 years ago.”
Ive said everything he has learned over the last 30 years led him to this moment with OpenAI.
“While I am both anxious and excited about the responsibility of the substantial work ahead, I am so grateful for the opportunity to be part of such an important collaboration. The values and vision of Altman and the teams at OpenAI and io are a rare inspiration,” Ive said.
“I am reminded of a time, three decades ago, when I emigrated to America. 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,” he added.
Since leaving Apple, Ive has dabbled with the fashion industry on multiple occasions. Most notably, he launched an outerwear collection with Moncler last year.
The collection was designed as a system of three shells — evolutions of the field jacket, parka and poncho — that connect to a central core through the magnetic “Duo button” featuring the Monduck and the LoveFrom bear logos. The button is engineered from aluminum, brass, steel and a heat-resistant magnet.
