Yesterday it was revealed OpenAI – the non-profit of ChatGPT fame – splashed six and a half billion bucks on picking up the former Apple design guru Jony Ive’s AI start up.
While everyone asked “oh wow, what could it be building?” I asked “$6.5 billion? For what exactly?” Well today we may have some answers to both of those pressing questions. And more.
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Questions like: What could a man who spent a lifetime in industrial design to the point he got a knighthood be up to here? And what role could industrial design have in an AI first world where the iPhone becomes sort of old hat?
Our old mate, the analyst with all the answers, Ming-Chi Kuo reckons he’s got a fair idea and it’s… wait for it… an iPod Shuffle that you wear around your neck! Wait! That’s doesn’t sound very futuristic, lads?
Kuo reckons the device, which the WSJ says, the heavyweight alliance hopes to sell one hundred million of, is as “compact and elegant as an iPod Shuffle.”
It sounds like what Jony Ive and Sam Altman may be cooking up is something similar to the short-lived Humane AI Pin, which was one of the first of these screen-less, AI-led, voice controlled devices.
In a post on X today, Kuo said the device is designed to be worn around the neck, will have cameras and microphone and can still connect to phones and computers to leverage the processing power and displays.
Kuo reckons the timing of the announcement was designed to counter Google’s activities at I/O, which involved revealing Gemini-powered Android XR Glasses.
Kuo writes: “In my view, one of OpenAI’s motives for announcing its collaboration with Jony Ive now is likely to shift market focus from recent Google I/O. Google’s ecosystem and AI integration, showcased in the I/O keynotes, pose a challenge that OpenAI currently struggles to address. As a result, OpenAI is leveraging a new narrative to redirect attention.
“That said, AI integrated into real-world applications, often termed “physical AI,” is widely recognised as the next critical trend.”
Interesting. Let’s see what the Ive and Altman alliance comes up with.
Opinion
Ive rubs me the wrong way. Always has. Sure, he helped make Apple what it is today. Steve Jobs loved him with good reason. He pioneered modern technology’s transition from bulky and functional to sleek and fashionable. He deserves a ton of credit.
But the manner in which he delivered those highfalutin keynote videos like an M&S Food commercial? While hanging on to those Chingford vibes? Son of a silversmith. Nah. The one-man mission he pioneered to rid tech fans of the connectivity they held dear over years didn’t sit well either. The way he kept us all in dongle hell until Tim Cook saw sense and enabled Apple’s engineers to put ports back into products? Nope.
Fair play to him for his feats, but I’m still wary of this fella and him aligning with Sam “Myles Dyson” Altman does little to allay that. Birds of a feather and all that.
And don’t get me started on that weird selfie they took together…
