This marks OpenAI’s largest acquisition to date and signals its first major leap into the world of AI-powered hardware.
OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, is pushing into the hardware frontier with the acquisition of “io,” an AI device company co-founded by Jony Ive, best known for his iconic designs at Apple including the iPhone, iMac, and iPad. The move will see OpenAI forming a dedicated hardware division, with about 55 engineers and developers from io joining its ranks.
The partnership brings together two creative giants—Sam Altman and Jony Ive—who revealed in a joint letter that their collaboration began quietly two years ago. Ive, who left Apple in 2019 to start his design firm LoveFrom, later co-founded io alongside Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey, and Tang Tan, all former Apple veterans.
OpenAI plans to roll out its first set of AI-driven devices by 2026, setting the stage for what could be a major disruption in the hardware space. Ive and his team are expected to play a pivotal role in shaping the product strategy and design ethos of OpenAI’s future devices.
Jony Ive’s design legacy is deeply intertwined with Apple’s transformation in the late 1990s, and his departure in 2019 was marked by Apple CEO Tim Cook’s tribute, crediting him with an “immeasurable contribution” to the company’s resurgence.
