Jony Ive, famously designed iPhone (including iconic Apple devices), is becoming the design management of Openai, Chatcpt AI giant, which for now does not manufacture a single hardware device.
The Wall Street Journal Wednesday reported the impending agreement that sees Openai acquire the IVES company in an agreement that has been valued at $ 6.5 billion. As part of it, I become the design management of Openai, a role he has slowly penetrated for some time.
Ive, who famously led Apple’s design for decades, left the company in 2019 and in recent months has expressed some concerns about the possible negative impact of the previous products he has been working on (which may include iPhone).
“I think when you are innovating, of course, there will be unintended consequences, you hope the majority will be pleasant surprises. Some products that I have been very, very involved in, I think there were some unintended consequences that were far from pleasant,” I said earlier this month, according to The Verge.
While reports show that Ive and Openai CEO Sam Altman are interested in building AI-Capable Consumer hardware, a smartphone is probably not on that menu.
Instead, most people expect the duo to focus on laptops such as earplugs and smartwatches that could be improved with, for example, cameras that could see your surroundings and use on board AI to help you shop and respond to them.
A soft approach
IVE’s focus will also be on upgrading Openai Software’s visual appeal. So expect an infusion of Ive-ness on Chatgpt on mobile and desktop (where it has a special technical or dev-friendly look) as well as on Sora and Dall-E interfaces.
In the latter part of his career at Apple, Ive was most responsible for removing skewed skeuomorphism-what made digital icons look like their real world colleagues-across Apple’s platforms. Openai’s software does not suffer from the skeuomorphic scourge, but some could argue that its overall look is less than elegant.
If you are curious if IVe’s design skills are still up to snuff, just look at the updated Airbnb, which Ives Love Form Firm Redesigned. Love form, by the way, is set to remain an independent business and will according to The Wall Street Journal, Work with Openai as a client.
The news should hover Apple a little. The company, which collaborated with Openai to include Chatgpt Access in Apple Intelligence, has not only failed to deliver its own generative AI, but falls behind the industry of providing a genuine, combined hardware/software AI experience.
TIP on hardware that comes
It will be fascinating to see what Altman and Ive are cooking and we already have some tips.
Altman announced the deal by tweeting that he is “excited to try to create a new generation of AI-driven computers.” The roof literally we can expect an AI -PC from the team, but I think here Altman means that “computers wrote big”, as the most intelligent consumer electronics could be considered computer devices.
The tweet was accompanied by a video with a conversation between Ive and Altman, where Altman described developing “a family of devices that would let people use AI to create all kinds of different things.”
Without revealing the product, I revealed that “the first one we have been working on has almost completely caught our imagination.” Furthermore, Altman added that Ive handed him the device to take home. “I’ve been able to live with it, and I think it’s the coolest piece of technology that the world will ever have seen.”
Whatever they build, it’s worth remembering that the path to AI -hardware -success is already filled with the rotten carcasses from failed ventures like Human AI. Regular people have not shown much interest in wearing AI hardware that does not match their current fashion choice.
Excited to collaborate with Jony, IMO the biggest designer in the world. Printed to try to create a new generation of AI-driven computers. pic.twitter.com/ipzbnrz1jqMay 21, 2025
That said, there may be an opportunity for Openai, Ive and Altman in the Smart Glasses room. It is the AI-connected unit area that seems to show some real signs of life. It is mostly down to Meta’s efforts with Ray Ban Meta Smart Glasses, but also the proof of the upcoming influx of Android XR competitors from Google Partners Samsung, Warby Parker and others. Some were announced this week on Google I/O 2025 and all of them will contain Gemini in their core.
Openai and Chatgpt may lead in the generative AI room, but Google Gemini is close to the back. And if the Android XR partners can deliver stylish Gemini -Smarte glasses this year, it can quickly vault Gemini in the lead. At least this pressure puts on Openai to deliver something.
Is Jony Ive the secret sauce that will make chatgpt AI glasses, earplugs, smart watches and other consumer hardware possible and desirable? Perhaps. Openai says we will see their work next year. Just don’t expect a chatgpt phone.
