Apple design legend Jony Ive joins OpenAI

The legendary designer behind Apple's iPhone, Jony Ive, has joined OpenAI to create devices tailored for using generative artificial intelligence, according to a video posted on Wednesday by the ChatGPT maker.

- GLENN CHAPMAN THOMAS URBAIN AFP

Ive and his team will take over design at OpenAI as part of an acquisition of his startup named IO valued at US$6.5 billion (213 billion baht).

Sharing no details, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said in the video that a prototype Ive shared with him “is the coolest piece of technology that the world will have ever seen”.

The San Francisco-based Al company finished the clip with a message that it looks forward to sharing fruits of the device collaboration next year.

British-born Ive was an Apple employee from 1992 to 2019, during which time he oversaw the development of the brand’s now legendary products, from the iMac and AirPods to the iPod, iPhone and Apple Watch.