He introduced Apple’s {hardware} design to new heights — might Jony Ive do the identical for the burgeoning marketplace for AI-focussed {hardware}?
That’s the hope for Ive’s subsequent challenge, which is able to see the veteran designer group up with ChatGPT developer OpenAI for a brand new {hardware} gadget leveraging the corporate’s fast-growing synthetic intelligence merchandise.
The partnership — rumored earlier this yr — has now been confirmed in a New York Instances profile which explores Ive’s post-Apple independence, together with discussions with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
The pair have agreed to associate on a brand new “synthetic intelligence gadget firm” for a product “that makes use of AI to create a computing expertise that’s much less socially disruptive than the iPhone,” in response to the article. Not that Apple itself is averse to AI integrations — the most recent iOS 18 launch is about to get an replace that can embrace baked-in entry to ChatGPT and OpenAI tech.
However iPhones, together with the model new iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Professional, nonetheless make use of AI as a characteristic quite than a product unto itself, and that would be the differentiating issue for this new gadget. OpenAI might be on the core. What industrial design type that can take is “nonetheless being decided”, however Ive’s group has exemplary pedigree — a few of his new crew labored alongside him on iPhone designs through the years.
A tool revolution to come back?
Ive’s challenge gained’t be the primary to attempt to make a bespoke, built-for-purpose AI {hardware} design. However early forays into the market have been blended at greatest.
The Rabbit R1 launched earlier this yr, and charmed with its cutesy phone-like design. However its precise usefulness, swapping out conventional apps for generative AI responses, proved clunky. Likewise, the Humane AI pin launched to nice hype, however quickly fell flat of the restrictions its wearable type issue introduced.
But when anybody can create an AI gadget type issue that truly works, it’s Ive. His meticulous consideration to element has been massively influential on the planet of tech, revolutionizing computing gadget design. If his focus was ever in query, take this secondary snippet from the article: he’s simply spent 5 years engaged on a e book in regards to the historical past of buttons.
Jony Ive says he has spent 5 years engaged on a e book about buttons pic.twitter.com/PqWhQ8KYLRSeptember 23, 2024
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