SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Openai is recruiting Jony Ive, the designer behind Apple’s iPhone, to lead a new hardware project for an artificial intelligence company creating ChatGpt.
Openai said it has acquired IO, a product and engineering company co-founded by IVE, to a nearly $6.5 billion deal.
Openai said CEO Sam Altman has been working together “quietly” with Ive and his design company Lovefrom since 2023.
Ive has worked for Apple for over 20 years and is known for his work in the design of the iconic iPhone, iMac and iPad. Ive was Apple’s chief design officer before leaving the company in 2019 to set up his own design company.
In a joint letter posted on Openai’s website on Wednesday, Ive and Altman said “it has become clear that their ambitions to develop, engineer and manufacture new products families demand a whole new company.”
It was when Ive co-founded with IO and Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey and Tang Tan.
Openai said Ive will not become an Openai employee and while his design group, Lovefrom, will remain independent, “consider deep design and creative responsibility across Openai and IO.” Both Openai and Ive’s design companies are based in San Francisco.
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Original issue: May 21, 2025, 2:32pm EDT
