In September 2023, reports emerged of former Apple design guru Jony Ive joining forces with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to develop the 'iPhone of AI'.

According to The Financial Times, the duo held brainstorming sessions at the designer’s San Francisco studio about a new consumer product centered on OpenAI’s technology. 

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son was reportedly involved in some of the discussions, “pitching a central role for ARM, as well as offering financial backing”. The Japanese multinational investment company holds a 90% stake in the chip manufacturer. 

Although these discussions were said to be serious, no deal was agreed. However, according to the latest sources, this AI-powered hardware device will not look like a smartphone. 

A novel interface

As per The Information, Sam Altman is exploring a screenless device. This approach is the same taken by another of Altman’s recent investments, the Humane AI pin. 

Altman and Ive are currently in advanced discussions with various venture capital firms, including Thrive Capital and Emerson Collective, to secure around $1bn in funding for their yet-to-be-named startup. The device is expected to be powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT. 

Ive, best known for his efforts towards designing the iPhone, and user interface for iOS, left Apple in 2019 to start his creative firm, LoveForm. However, he continued to work with Apple as a consultant via his venture until 2022.  

According to Bloomberg, Ive has enlisted the services of Tang Tan to lead the project’s hardware engineering. Tan was formerly Apple’s Vice President of iPhone and watch product design.

A new dawn of AI devices

In 2018, Ive told FT that Apple had a “moral responsibility” to mitigate unintended consequences such as addictive apps. While smartphones are excellent at doing everything, this ability can also be a hindrance. 

Recent AI devices such as the Humane’s AI pin, and the Rabbit r1 claim to remove the distracting aspect of smartphones and get work done efficiently. While this idea seems good on paper, it raises a few other concerns. 

For instance, booking a vacation for you and the family – as the r1 demonstrated during its unveiling – would it still do as through a check as you would, combing through hotel and ticket options tailored to your needs and budget? Would the device know your preferred method of payment? If it did know all that, is your data stored securely? 

While standalone AI devices have certainly caught the attention of many, it remains to be seen if they live up to their hype. Last week, Rabbit notified users that the first batch of r1 devices was ready to be shipped. 

Humane’s co-founder and chairman Imran Chaudhri tweeted that the first batch of AI pins “started to leave the factory”.