OpenAI is acquiring Jony Ive and Sam Altman's startup, io, which will lead creative and design work for OpenAI.

Sam Altman and OpenAI announced a $6.4 billion deal on Wednesday to buy io, the AI hardware startup of Apple's former chief design officer Jony Ive.

OpenAI has fully acquired Io, a joint venture it cocreated last year with Jony Ive, the famed British designer behind the sleek industrial aesthetic that defined the iPhone and more than two decades of Apple products.

The world of AI is abuzz with activity, largely thanks to companies like OpenAI. We recently heard about the ChatGPT maker acquiring “io,” the AI ​​hardware startup led by former Apple design legend Jony Ive.

A report of collaboration between Jony Ive and OpenAI has sparked interest in a new AI device, set for mass production by 2027. The device, designed for ambient intelligence, will likely rely on smartphones for display and will be assembled in Vietnam to avoid Chinese manufacturing dependencies.

OpenAI is buying io, a hardware company founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and several other former engineers from his time there, including Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey, and Tang Tan.

According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, OpenAI and Jony Ive are planning a neck-worn AI device with a similar form factor to the iPod Shuffle.

In a move that casts a shadow across Apple’s upcoming Worldwide Developer’s Conference, OpenAI has announced that it will purchase io, the AI startup founded by acclaimed former Apple designer Sir Jony Ive, who helped create the iMac, iPod, and iPhone.

I really hope OpenAI's new hardware doesn't make me talk to myself in public.