Jony Ive says OpenAI’s first mysterious consumer gadget will ship within two years
Open AI’s first Jony Ive-designed hardware product is still on the way and could go on sale in less than two years, Apple’s former Chief Design Officer who now works with Open AI confirmed in conversation with Laurene Powell Jobs. Ive appeared with Jobs and OpenAI’s Sam Altman as part of the Emerson Collective’s ninth annual Demo Day. You can watch their conversation here.
Ive on dogs and complexity
“I can’t bear products that are like a dog wagging their tail in your face, or products that are so proud that they solved a complicated problem, they want to remind you how hard it was. I love products that teeter on being naïve,” he said.
“I also love incredibly sophisticated products that you want to use almost carelessly.”
Little is known about the device, other than that OpenAI seems to be poaching huge numbers of Apple’s own hardware and software design teams to build it. It is also notable that the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is lending support.
Add it up and it’s impossible not to think Ive plans something that will put both a ding in the universe and a bigger dent in the Apple. Apple’s alleged decision to move to Google for Siri’s AI kind of reinforces that notion – as did OpenAI’s alleged complaint in the EU.
So, what was said?
They are currently prototyping the device, which we’ve heard before will be screen free and smartphone sized.
The OpenAI CEO described the design as simple, beautiful, playful. In a quickfire round of questions at the end, he also admitted that the iPhone is in his opinion the most important product of his life. “The most before and after product,” he called it.
Ive simply said: “I love solutions that teeter on appearing almost naive in their simplicity, and I also love incredibly intelligent, sophisticated products that you want to touch, and you feel no intimidation, and you want to use almost carelessly, that you use them almost without thought, that they’re just tools.”
In other words, he’s been as focused on the UI as the hardware. Both men seem to think people will be surprised and delighted by the device once they see it. It will, of course, just take a little time until people do.
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