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

OpenAI forms a new hardware division with the io team, led by Jony Ive, to develop AI-native devices, possibly launching a voice-first product as early as 2026.

OpenAI has announced the launch of its io Products, founded by former Apple chief designer Sir Jony Ive and Sam Altman, in a deal valued at $6.5bn. The agreement brings one of the world’s most influential product designers into OpenAI’s leadership as the artificial intelligence (AI) company expands into consumer hardware.

Apple designer Jony Ive's AI hardware startup, IO, in a deal worth nearly $6.5 billion. Ive previously worked with Sam Altman.

There have been public failures as well, such as the Humane AI Pin and the Rabbit R1 personal assistant device. “Those were very poor products,” said Ive, 58. “There has been an absence of new ways of thinking expressed in products.”

As per news reports, all of io’s staff will join OpenAI, where they will work closely with the AI giant’s engineering, research and design teams in San Francisco. As per a report from Reuters, OpenAI is expected to name Jony Ive as creative head. However, Ive may also continue to run his independent design studio, LoveFrom.

The hand of Jony Ive is all around us: on our desks, in our pockets, in our palms. More than any other living designer, Apple’s former design chief has shaped and contoured our day-to-day experience. Yet unlike the buzzing, attention-hungry iPhone – his most earth-shaking effigy – the man himself is much less forthcoming.