Jony Ive, the iPhone designer, and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, are developing an innovative device that will act as an AI “companion.”
Leaks revealed by The Wall Street Journal show that OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, recently acquired io, a company co-founded by Ive. According to the report, OpenAI plans to release millions of AI devices that will serve as “companions” in people’s daily lives.
“The product will be fully aware of the user’s environment and life, will be discreet, and fit in a pocket or on a desk,” says a recording from an OpenAI team meeting accessed by WSJ.
The device “will be a third essential device that a person places on the desk, after a MacBook Pro and an iPhone,” the recording says, which took place on the same day OpenAI announced the acquisition of Ive’s company.
The purpose of the device is to “pull users away from screens” and provide a more seamless interaction without needing to open a phone or computer.
“The products we use to deliver and connect us to unimaginable technologies are decades old,” Ive said in a presentation video released Wednesday (21). With this in mind, they expect to launch a completely new, “screenless” device that removes those barriers.
Users quickly associated the announcement with Sam Altman’s controversial obsession with Scarlett Johansson’s AI companion in the film Her, directed by Spike Jonze. In the movie, the AI device sits in Joaquin Phoenix’s character’s shirt pocket and sees and hears everything he does.
This is not the first attempt to create such a device. Recently, Humane launched the AI Pin, a device that acts as a brooch and has all the functions of a smartphone in the palm of your hand.
However, the device, led by former Apple executives and which received investment from Altman, was a complete failure. But it is worth noting that Humane did not have the same level of influence and investment as OpenAI.
Photo and video: Creative Commons. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
