OpenAI, the maker of generative AI platform ChatGPT, is in advanced talks with former Apple design chief Jony Ive and SoftBank Group chief executive Masayoshi Son to create the “iPhone of artificial intelligence”.
Development of the product will be bankrolled by $1 billion from the Japanese investment holding company, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing sources.
Terms of the potential investment, as well as the timeline for the development of the product, remain unclear.
Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, tapped design studio LoveFrom, which Mr Ive started after stepping down from his high-profile role as Apple's chief design officer in 2019.
The Information this week had also reported some aspects of the product discussions.
Mr Altman and Mr Ive have held talks at the San Francisco-based studio on how the product would look and how OpenAI's technology would fit in it, the sources said.
They are looking at creating a product that is “more natural and intuitive” for users, allowing a seamless experience when interacting with AI, they said.
The iPhone was groundbreaking and pioneered a new market for mobile devices, having removed the physical keyboard in favour of an all-touch interface.
The type of device to be created and its design remain at an early stage, with many different ideas and options being considered, the sources said.
Smartphones have revolutionised mobile communications and advancements have made them even more powerful and useful. However, the industry has been stagnating, with shipments set to drop to their lowest levels in a decade, Counterpoint Research said last month.
Having a new and unique product could help revive the market, and could challenge the dominance of Apple and Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest mobile phone manufacturer, as well as other mainstays.
The grand designs of Jonny Ive
Mr Ive being on board OpenAI's project would be a huge boost for its consumer device plans.
Mr Ive was a close creative collaborator with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
He spent more than two decades at the tech company and led the design of the coloured iMacs that helped Apple re-emerge from near death in the 1990s as well as the design of the iPhone.
Mr Ive also had a hand in designing parts of the iOS user interface, as well as buildings including the company's Apple Park headquarters in California and Apple Stores.
He left Apple in 2019 and co-founded design firm LoveFrom with fellow designer Marc Newson. LoveFrom, which describes itself as a “creative collective”, has clients such as Airbnb and Ferrari.
Tokyo-based SoftBank, meanwhile, is a major player in technology investment.
The company and its tech-focused Vision Fund have made nearly 160 investments, data from CB Insights shows.
Among the companies in SoftBank's investment portfolio are China's Alibaba Group, chipmakers Nvidia and Arm, Uber Technologies, TikTok parent ByteDance and Indian e-commerce platform Flipkart.
SoftBank has been looking for deals in AI, including a potential investment in OpenAI, after the blockbuster listing of its Arm unit, the FT reported earlier this month, adding that Mr Son was looking to invest tens of billions of dollars in the technology.
The success of OpenAI, the parent company of the wildly popular chatbot ChatGPT, has prompted companies such as Microsoft and Alphabet to pour billions of dollars into investing in the technology.
Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
Company%20Profile
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Full Party in the Park line-up
2pm – Andreah
3pm – Supernovas
4.30pm – The Boxtones
5.30pm – Lighthouse Family
7pm – Step On DJs
8pm – Richard Ashcroft
9.30pm – Chris Wright
10pm – Fatboy Slim
11pm – Hollaphonic
The Comeback: Elvis And The Story Of The 68 Special
Simon Goddard
Omnibus Press
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
SPECS
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Expert input
If you had all the money in the world, what’s the one sneaker you would buy or create?
“There are a few shoes that have ‘grail’ status for me. But the one I have always wanted is the Nike x Patta x Parra Air Max 1 - Cherrywood. To get a pair in my size brand new is would cost me between Dh8,000 and Dh 10,000.” Jack Brett
“If I had all the money, I would approach Nike and ask them to do my own Air Force 1, that’s one of my dreams.” Yaseen Benchouche
“There’s nothing out there yet that I’d pay an insane amount for, but I’d love to create my own shoe with Tinker Hatfield and Jordan.” Joshua Cox
“I think I’d buy a defunct footwear brand; I’d like the challenge of reinterpreting a brand’s history and changing options.” Kris Balerite
“I’d stir up a creative collaboration with designers Martin Margiela of the mixed patchwork sneakers, and Yohji Yamamoto.” Hussain Moloobhoy
“If I had all the money in the world, I’d live somewhere where I’d never have to wear shoes again.” Raj Malhotra
Brief scores:
Toss: Kerala Knights, opted to fielf
Pakhtoons 109-5 (10 ov)
Fletcher 32; Lamichhane 3-17
Kerala Knights 110-2 (7.5 ov)
Morgan 46 not out, Stirling 40
The years Ramadan fell in May
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
