Jony Ive’s First AI Gadget? Clues Point to a Pen
The former Apple designer loves the age-old tool, perhaps enough to make it a landmark AI device.
Can Sam Altman and Jony Ive turn this into an AI-enabled device?
Photographer: Bloomberg/BloombergThe hottest new collaboration in Silicon Valley is between OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman and Jony Ive, the former Apple Inc. designer credited with giving iPhones, Macs and AirPods their sleek, covetous look. Altman bought Ive’s startup for $6.5 billion earlier this year, releasing a slickly produced video to tease a new “family” of devices that would let people “use AI to create all sorts of wonderful things.”
OpenAI has kept its plans a secret, but here’s what we know: The first so-called AI device won’t have a screen and it won’t be something you can wear, according to recent filings in an unrelated court case. It probably won’t look anything like the Humane Pin, a pioneering AI gadget that failed spectacularly. So what will it be? My money is on a pen.