Sam Altman and Jony Ive have stayed painstakingly cryptic about what their collaborative A.I. hardware device will ultimately look like. So far, the OpenAI CEO and former Apple designer have shared only that the product will be less clunky than a laptop and less screen-focused than a smartphone. Their latest hint, meanwhile, speaks to the product’s overall “vibe.”
Current devices can feel like walking through Times Square, with all “the little indignities along the way: flashing lights in my face, tension going here, people bumping into me, noises going off,” Altman said at a recent event hosted by Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective. OpenAI’s upcoming device, he added, will instead evoke the feeling of “sitting in the most beautiful cabin by a lake in the mountains and just sort of enjoying the peace and calm.”
Altman and Ive officially joined forces in May when OpenAI acquired the designer’s hardware startup, io, which previously received backing from Powell Jobs, in a $6.5 billion deal. The acquisition brought Ive into the fold to oversee OpenAI’s efforts to design a consumer-facing A.I. device that reimagines how people interact with technology.
“What I went to with Sam wasn’t a product but a tentative thesis. It was a thought about the nature of objects and our interface,” Ive said at the same event, declining to offer more details about the pitch he delivered.
What little the pair have disclosed about their project remains frustratingly vague. The initial design goal was to create something users “want to lick or take a bite out of,” Altman said, adding that an early prototype was scrapped in part because it didn’t fit that description.
They appear to have since crossed that threshold. According to Altman, their work has now produced its first prototypes, which he described as “jaw-droppingly good.” The final product is expected to arrive in under two years, giving users plenty of time to, as he joked, lick and bite the device to their heart’s content.
Altman and Ive have emphasized that their device will not be another smartphone and have repeatedly warned about the harmful effects of today’s dominant tech products. Nonetheless, from the clues they’ve offered, their approach seems to echo Apple’s sleek design language. OpenAI’s device will be “playful” and full of “whimsy,” Altman said, describing it as so minimal that consumers will look at it and say, “That’s it?”
Ive, too, stressed restraint and simplicity. “I can’t bear products that are like a dog wagging its tail in your face, or products that are so proud that they solve the complicated problem and want to remind you of how hard it is,” said the designer. “I love solutions that teeter on appearing almost naive in their simplicity.”
Even as they try to avoid the pitfalls of modern consumer tech—devices that can fuel unhealthy relationships—the duo are also working toward a release with societal impact on par with landmark products like the iPhone. When asked which device he uses most often, Altman pointed to the iPhone, calling it “the most ‘before-and-after-moment’ product of my life.”
Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly
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