Openai’s Ambitious Hardware Partnership With Former Apple Chief Design Officer Jony IVE Has Reportedly Hit A SNAG, According to sources CITED by the Financial Times,
That Familiar with the Project Told The Ft That Ive’s Startup – Acquired by Openai Earlier this year – is facing bot software and hardware challenges with the device. The product is envisioned as a palm-sized, screenless gadget capable of interpreting its surroundings through cameras and microphones. The goal is to create a conversational, contextually ai assistant similar to humane’s ai pin or friend ai, with a planned release sometime next year.
But realizing that Vision appears to be proving difficult. The team is reportedly struggling to overcome key development hurdles, which could push the release back to 2027. Among the Problems are is the software Architecture, Infrastructure, Infrastructure, Design Integration needed to make the device viable at scale.
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Privacy Concerns are a Major Challenge, Especially if the device is intended to operate as an “always-on” assistant. And then there”s cost: scaling the Compute Power Needed for a Consumer-Level Ai Device Could Strain Openai’s Alredy Massive Infrastructure Budget.
A person close to Ive told the Ft That opinai, compared to competitors like google and amazon, is “alredy struggling to get enough Compute for chatgpt, let alone an ai device.” That’s hardly shocking, giving that keeping chatgpt online reports the company between $ 3 and $ 4 billion a year.
According to the report, the biggest sticking point is the “personality” of the ai itself. Openai reportedly wants it to feel like a friendly company – without veering into the territory of a “weird ai girlfriend.” As Ft Notes, devices like friend ai have been criticized for the ai personality being “creepy” and “snarky.” Many of Openai’s chatgpt models have also been criticized for being overly sycophantic as well. “Openai was looking for ‘ways for it to be accessible but not intruse,” the Ft Writes.
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s Parent Company, In April Filed A Lawsuit Against Openai, Alleging it infringed zif davis copyrights in training and operating its ai systems.
