iPhone Designer Jony Ive Working on a Project With OpenAI

In 2019, Jony Ive left his position at Apple after helping to reshape the very nature of product design. That isn’t really hyperbole: books have literally been written about the impact and influence of Apple’s design work, and it isn’t hard to see the influence of iMacs and iPhones extending far beyond the world of computers and smartphones. But in the five years since Ive announced he was departing Apple, there’s been a big question floating overhead: what would he do for an encore?

Turns out the answer involves AI. More specifically, OpenAI. A New York Times profile of Ive by Tripp Mickle provides a good summary of where Ive is in 2024 — both professionally and aesthetically. Ive’s design firm LoveFrom has worked with companies ranging from Ferrari to Airbnb — but it’s an upcoming project with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman that feels the most like a successor to his work with Apple.

Reading the Times‘ reporting doesn’t reveal many details about the new venture, which Mickle described as “being developed in secret.” What’s notable is that Ive is working with a few other Apple alumni on the project. Mickle wrote about “a computing experience that is less socially disruptive than the iPhone” — but details are scarce as to what that experience will actually look like. It could be a phone, a laptop or a desktop computer — or, potentially, none of these things.

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If Ive’s venture with OpenAI is in the portable device world — which seems very possible — it’ll be in keeping with a growing trend in the industry. Android has been touting its AI feature, Gemini, since earlier this year. Last week, the Associated Press reported that Apple was testing a software update to bolster Siri’s AI capabilities. There’s still a lot we don’t know about Ive’s project with OpenAI, but one thing is virtually assured: its design will be impeccable.