Renowned British designer Jony Ive, the creative mind behind Apple’s most iconic products, has joined OpenAI, co-founded by Sam Altman, to design AI-first devices. This move follows OpenAI’s $6.5 billion acquisition of Ive’s design firm “IO.” Ive, known for shaping Apple’s product identity alongside Steve Jobs, will now bring his visionary design expertise to the AI world.
British-born design legend Jony Ive, widely recognized for revolutionizing Apple’s product lineup, has officially joined OpenAI in California. The move follows OpenAI’s acquisition of his design startup “IO” in a landmark deal valued at USD 6.5 billion.
OpenAI, co-founded by Sam Altman, is a leading American artificial intelligence research and deployment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Known for its popular AI models including ChatGPT, OpenAI is aiming to expand into AI hardware products through this high-profile collaboration.
Ive, who joined Apple in 1992 after graduating from Newcastle Polytechnic (now Northumbria University) in the United Kingdom, played a pivotal role in designing breakthrough products like the iPhone, iMac, iPod, Apple Watch, and AirPods. He rose to lead Apple’s design team by 1996 and remained a key force behind the company’s aesthetic and user-friendly product philosophy until his departure in 2019.
Ive’s journey at Apple was deeply intertwined with the company’s late co-founder Steve Jobs. Their partnership helped redefine Apple’s global image and turned it into one of the most valuable companies in the world. Jobs’ vision for creating great products, rather than focusing solely on profit, persuaded Ive to stay at Apple during its turbulent times in the late 1990s.
After leaving Apple, Ive founded LoveFrom, a design firm that later gave rise to IO. The acquisition of IO by OpenAI marks a significant shift for the designer, as he transitions from consumer electronics to artificial intelligence hardware.
OpenAI stated that Jony Ive and his team will lead the design of new devices built specifically for generative AI. These tools are expected to seamlessly integrate AI into daily life, similar to how Apple products transformed digital lifestyles.
As generative AI continues to influence industries, Ive’s entry into OpenAI signals a design-first approach in making AI more intuitive and human-centric.
