Altman is reportedly in talks with his friend & ex-iPhone designer to look at what could an AI hardware/device could look like or do.
Sam Altman is reportedly in talks with former iPhone designer (Chief Design Officer, Apple) and friend Jony Ive about developing a new AI hardware device. A report has revealed that the two friends are exploring a yet-unspecified AI device together.
The diversification into hardware from software is never easy for any company and partnering with talented people who have helped design and develop well-known hardware and devices is imperative more often than not.
According to the Verge, the two are reportedly discussing what the “new hardware for the AI age could look like.”
Notably, Altman has partnered with Ive’s first hire Thomas Meyerhoffer on the Worldcoin AI Orb retina scanners. Additionally, Altman is also one of the biggest investors in the AI startup Humane, co-founded by ex-Apple employees, which is working on a wearable AI device to replace smartphones (“Ai Pin”).
Reportedly, SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son is also in talks with Altman and Ive for this partnership, after having invested $140B+ in AI startups in the last few years.
The exclusive report by The Information (Link—Paywalled) mentions that the project is in very early stages and the duo, potentially with Son, are only discussing “what a piece of hardware could do or look like.” There are no concrete features, capabilities, or even a target market yet.
TechCrunch mentioned that OpenAI knows hardware is a tough business, as the company once ran a robotics research division that had to be shut down.
