OpenAI to Buy Jony Ive’s Stealth Startup for $6.5 Billion

Jony Ive’s stealth AI company known as io is being acquired by OpenAI for $6.5 billion in a deal that is expected to close this summer subject to regulatory approvals. According to reporting by Mark Gurman and Shirin Ghaffary of Bloomberg:

The purchase — the largest in OpenAI’s history — will provide the company with a dedicated unit for developing AI-powered devices. Acquiring the secretive startup, named io, also will secure the services of Ive and other former Apple designers who were behind iconic products such as the iPhone.

The partnership builds on a 23% stake in io that OpenAI purchased at the end of last year and comes with what Bloomberg describes as 55 hardware engineers, software developers, and manufacturing experts, plus a cast of accomplished designers.

Ive had this to say about the purportedly novel products he and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are planning:

“People have an appetite for something new, which is a reflection on a sort of an unease with where we currently are,” Ive said, referring to products available today. Ive and Altman’s first devices are slated to debut in 2026.

Bloomberg also notes that Ive and his team of designers will be taking over all design at OpenAI, including software design like ChatGPT.

For now, the products OpenAI is working on remain a mystery, but given the purchase price and io’s willingness to take its first steps into the spotlight, I expect we’ll be hearing more about this historic collaboration in the months to come.

→ Source: bloomberg.com