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More details have leaked about former Apple design chief Jony Ive's secretive collab with OpenAI to create a new AI consumer product. The gadget – pitched as a "third core device" that would sit in your pocket, or on your desk alongside a MacBook Pro and iPhone – apparently won't be an in-ear device or a wearable. How do we know?

jony-ive-sam-altman.jpg

Earlier this week, OpenAI was forced to remove from its website mentions of io (the hardware startup it acquired, co-founded by Ive) to comply with a trademark lawsuit by a Google-backed company called iyO, which is developing custom-molded earpieces that connect to other devices.

To back up its claim that OpenAI wilfully infringed on its trademark, iyO submitted court filings that include emails showing that executives from io and OpenAI knew about its in-ear device – dubbed "the world's first audio computer" – and even requested a demo of iyO's product.

However, io co-founder and former Apple executive Tang Tan submitted court filings this month responding to the allegation. In the June 12 court declaration, Tan concedes that the company "surveyed the existing commercial offerings" and that "as part of these early efforts, io purchased a wide range of earbuds, hearing aids, and at least 30 different headphone sets from a variety of different companies."

However, Tan says the first device it plans to launch "is not an in-ear device, nor a wearable device." The filings also say the device is "at least a year away from being offered for sale."

The new tidbit goes against a recent prediction by industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who said that users will be able to wear the device around their necks, "like a necklace." Even before the court filings, Kuo's claim seemed speculative at best, given that Ive apparently isn't keen on making something you'd wear on the body.

Previous leaks have revealed that the gadget will be pocket-sized, contextually aware of your surroundings and life, and completely screen-free. Altman apparently told OpenAI staff it's "the coolest piece of technology that the world will have ever seen" after testing Ive's prototype at home.

OpenAI acquired Ive's startup io for $6.5 billion, with Altman suggesting the deal could add $1 trillion in value to the company. The goal is to ship the device by late 2026, and OpenAI has ambitious plans to reach 100 million units "faster than any company has ever shipped 100 million of something new before."

If you've been eagerly awaiting more concrete details about mysterious AI device, the new info is likely to disappoint. Other than that, it's hard to know what to expect, especially given it's been several years since Ive oversaw the design of a consumer electronics product. Here's hoping it has better durability than a butterfly keyboard.

Article Link: Jony Ive's OpenAI Device Won't Be Wearable, Court Filings Reveal
 
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Its odd, we all heard of 'LoveFrom' but I never once knew of the existence of 'io' until they announced the purchase.

Was this company manifested as an offshoot of LoveFrom for the specific reason of being bought by OpenAI?

Also for some reason I have this strong conviction that the product will be a little soft aluminium pebble-shaped thing with a 360° fisheye camera in it so you can place it on a desk and it can always 'see' the room.

Then using its camera it can see the screen of the computer your using. You'll pair it as a Bluetooth 'keyboard and mouse' then you can just let it use the computer for you. Since it would have a camera to see the screen itself it wouldn't need deep access or an installed app.

You just talk to it and it just interprets and inputs whatever you tell it. You can pick it up and take it with you. Then it functions independently over 5G.

Yes this would easily turn into a Black Mirror episode of the pebble waking up in the middle of the night and browsing your PC when you don't realise.
 
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Caring very deeply about the products he creates has always been Jonny Ive's DNA and is why he and Steve Jobs got on so well.
Whether he can pull off the entire new product category vision without Apple is another matter. OpenAI are just full of themselves but it sounds like AI is hitting technical ceilings and big problems in terms of trust and reliability of what it can 'deduce' or sound convincing about.
 
Its odd, we all heard of 'LoveFrom' but I never once knew of the existence of 'io' until they announced the purchase.

Was this company manifested as an offshoot of LoveFrom for the specific reason of being bought by OpenAI?

It had nothing to do with LoveFrom. It was created to hire people and be bought. Nothing from LoveFrom, other than Ive, is involved.

So you're carrying a cell phone, potentially a smart watch, and he's trying to flog a 3rd device you'd keep in your pocket to ask it questions about whatever?

Maybe it's a suppository?
 
Its odd, we all heard of 'LoveFrom' but I never once knew of the existence of 'io' until they announced the purchase.

Was this company manifested as an offshoot of LoveFrom for the specific reason of being bought by OpenAI?
Basically yes.
 
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I dunno what he is trying to accomplish honestly

I suspect he’s so isolated from reality and high on cocaine that it’s impossible to infer his line of thinking or what productive outcome for society will fail to appear.

More seriously I expect he doesn’t understand technology well enough to do anything other than conceive a product and sling it at engineers to work out how to actually do it.
 
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Without Steve Jobs, Jony Ive's industrial designs are underwhelming. Jobs brought out the best in Ive and kept his worst tendencies in check.

Although Ive and Scott Forstall did not get along, Apple was at their innovative peak when Ive was in charge of industrial design and Forstall was in charge of GUI design. Tim Cook was so clueless and mediocre that he fired Forstall and was so uninspiring to Ive that Ive quit.

As for Scam Altman, it's highly doubtful that he'll be able to elicit the best in Ive, so their collaboration might result in industrial designs in the same league of awfulness as the notch.
 
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Without Steve Jobs, Jony Ive's industrial designs are underwhelming. Jobs brought out the best in Ive and kept his worst tendencies in check.

Although Ive and Scott Forstall did not get along, Apple was at their innovative peak when Ive was in charge of industrial design and Forstall was in charge of GUI design. Tim Cook was so cluless and mediocre that he fired Forstall and was so unisprining to Ive that Ive quit.

As for Scam Altman, it's highly doubtful that he'll be able to elicit the best in Ive, so their collaboration might result in industrial designs in the same leage of awfulness as the notch.

Without someone to there to steer Ive's energy into creating viable products, his leptophilia takes over.
 
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Interesting. Waiting to hear more about it leading up to its launch. Not sure how useful it will be!
 
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