Jony Ive's Latest Project Could Be an AI 'Phone' Without a Screen

OpenAI is considering acquiring the AI hardware startup founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, according to a new report from The Information. The deal could be worth at least $500 million.

The venture, known as "io Products," is developing AI-powered devices that could include a "phone" without a screen and other AI-enabled household products, according to people with direct knowledge of the talks. That's despite people close to the project apparently insisting it is "not a phone."

Ive and Altman began their collaboration more than a year ago, focusing on creating voice-enabled AI assistants. The project is still in the early design stages, with no finalized product concepts yet.

The venture is being funded by Ive and Laurene Powell Jobs' Emerson Collective. The startup currently employs a small team that includes former Apple designers Tang Tan and Evans Hankey, who previously worked with Ive on the iPhone.

Instead of a full acquisition, OpenAI and the hardware startup are also discussing partnership options. If acquired, OpenAI would gain not only the technology but also the engineering team that has been developing the device, according to the report's sources.

The deal structure reportedly involves io Products employing engineers to build the device while OpenAI provides AI capabilities and Ive's LoveFrom studio contributes design expertise.

An AI hardware venture would put OpenAI in more direct competition with Apple, despite their existing partnership announced last June where Apple's Siri assistant uses ChatGPT for certain queries.

The AI voice assistant market is becoming increasingly competitive, with OpenAI, Meta, Google, Anthropic, and xAI all developing voice capabilities for their text chatbots. OpenAI launched a voice mode for ChatGPT last year, allowing customers to engage in spoken conversations with the chatbot.

Ive left Apple in 2019, where he served as chief design officer before founding his design firm LoveFrom. He continued to work with Apple as a consultant through LoveFrom until 2022, when the partnership officially concluded.