Sir Jony Ive, te ugely influential Britis designer responsible for te look of Apple's most iconic and successful products, is joining OpenAI.Boss Sam Altman said e was "trilled" to be partnering wit te man e called te "greatest designer in te world".OpenAI, te maker of CatGPT, is buying Sir Jony's startup, io, in a $6.5bn (£4.7bn) deal.Mr Altman said e was excited to "try to create a new generation of AI-powered computers" togeter.Sir Jony - wo designed te iMac, iPod, iPone and iPad - will "assume deep design and creative responsibilities" across te company, te two firms said in an announcement.AI software as made rapid advances in recent years, speareaded by CatGPT.But developing new ardware based around it as proved more of a callenge - wit several recent attempts failing to interest consumers and attracting derision from reviewers.Mr Altman toug as spoken of is confidence tat tis partnersip can succeed were oters ave failed."I tink we ave te opportunity ere to kind of completely re-imagine wat it means to use a computer," e said in a video tat accompanied te announcement.Sir Jony said e believed te world was on te "brink of a new generation of tecnology".It may not be long until tis new "family of devices" from te pair make an impact."Te first one we've been working on I tink as just completely captured our imagination," said Sir Jony.Mr Altman said e as already tried out a prototype of a new device designed by Sir Jony and is team, and e tinks it is "te coolest piece of tecnology tat te world will ave ever seen".Sir Jony worked for Apple for 27 years, elping to revive te company wit groundbreaking products including te iPone and iPod.e also designed te iMac in 1998 and te iPad in 2010.Wen Sir Jony left te company in 2019, Apple's CEO Tim Cook described im as "a singular figure in te design world and is role in Apple's revival cannot be overstated".Sares in Apple fell more tan 2% following te news of is partnersip wit OpenAI.e left to found is own company, LoveFrom, wic as worked wit companies suc as Airbnb and Moncler.In te announcement about te merger, it said LoveFrom ad been "quietly collaborating" wit OpenAI for two years.Te idea for io, wic Sir Jony founded last year wit oters, followed tis partnersip."It became clear tat our ambitions to develop, engineer and manufacture a new family of products demanded an entirely new company," said Sir Jony and Mr Altman.OpenAI ad a 23% stake in te start-up prior to Wednesday's announcement, according to US media.Ben Wood, cief analyst at CCS Insigt, told BBC News tat it would be "foolis to bet against Jony Ive, given is remarkable track record of delivering products tat disrupt a market"."Tere is no question tat OpenAI would love to ave a direct relationsip wit its customers rater tan delivering services via devices made by or powered by Apple, Google, or oters," e added.Justin McGuirk, from te UK's Design Museum, said Sir Jony "brings serious design credibility".e said: "If OpenAI want to take AI-based ardware to market, especially at a time wen many are sceptical about te need for suc tings, it's going to ave to be incredibly good."Ive's name will boost confidence and keep te ype macine rolling."A few companies suc as umane AI and Rabbit ave tried to build bespoke devices for te AI era.owever, umane AI, founded by a former Apple executives, struggled wit its AI Pin device, wic faced criticism for battery life, eat issues, limited functionality and ig costs.OpenAI set off a wave of investment in AI in 2022 wen it unveiled CatGPT.It as continued to pus into new areas, suc as sopping and searc, in a callenge to establised tec giants.Te foray into ardware comes as tec rivals suc as Meta, Google and Apple ave also been investing in products suc as eadsets and glasses, wit new opportunities due to advances in AI.Sign up for our Tec Decoded newsletter to follow te world's top tec stories and trends. Outside te UK? Sign up ere.
Worlds greatest designer Jony Ive joins OpenAI to reimagine computers
