Sam Altman, the CEO of ChatGPT developer OpenAI, is reportedly looking for funding for an AI-powered personal device – perhaps similar to the Humane AI Pin – and ex-Apple design guru Jony Ive is apparently getting involved as well.
This is according to The information (through MacRumors), and rumor has it that Altman and Ive started a “mystery company” together to make the device a reality. The report doesn’t mention much about the hardware, other than it won’t look like a smartphone.
As we’ve seen with the Humane AI Pin and the Rabbit R1, having an AI assistant on a device means you don’t necessarily need a display and traditional apps – the artificial intelligence engine can do everything for you, without tapping or scrolling required.
Altman and Ive are said to be looking for around $1 billion in financing, so this is clearly a big undertaking we’re talking about. It’s not clear how much involvement OpenAI would have, but the ChatGPT bot would most likely be used on the new device.
Previous rumors
This did not come entirely out of the blue: in September The Financial Times reported that Altman and Ive were “in talks” to secure financing for a new project from SoftBank, a Japanese investment company.
SoftBank has a stake in CPU company Arm, which may be tapped to supply components for the hardware – which of course can’t run entirely on AI cloud magic. However, all this is speculation for now.
In January it was Sam Altman spotted cruising around a Samsung chip factory, so all indications are that he is up to something in the physical hardware department. However, it remains to be seen how advanced this hardware is.
During his time at Apple, Jony Ive led the design teams responsible for the iPod, iPhone, iPad and MacBook, so whatever is in the pipeline, we can expect it to look stylish. We can also expect to hear more about this intriguing device in the coming years.