Jony Ive, Apple's former design chief, draws talent from his former employer to create an AI device

2023-12-27 05:30:31

Jony Ive, the former star designer at Apple, is gradually rebuilding his inner circle within LoveFrom, the design studio founded after his departure from Cupertino. And one of the projects this team is working on could well compete with the computer manufacturer.

Jony Ive, who designed Apple’s most iconic devices under the watchful eye of Steve Jobs, left the computer company at the end of 2019. He has not been inactive since: the former chief designer of the Apple firm founded his own studio, LoveFrom, where he works for several clients – including… Apple, until 2022. He also lends his talent to Ferrari, Airbnb and the clothing brand Moncler.

Read The new project of Apple’s design king? A $60,000 record player

And to fill the ranks of LoveFrom, Jony Ive does not hesitate to dig into his former employer: more than twenty former employees of the manufacturer now work for the design studio, such as Tang Tan whose announcement from the start had been much commented on. The future vice-president of product design – he will formally leave Apple at the end of February – will also work with Iveteaches us Bloomberg.

This Apple veteran has worked on the iPhone, the Apple Watch, the AirPods. He had a certain power within Apple, it was he who often made the final decisions. Tang Tan will put his talent at the service of LoveFrom and particularly of this mysterious project which unites Jony Ive and Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO (disputed) of OpenAI.

The two friends would indeed have the ambition to design a device exploiting the full capabilities of artificial intelligence, of which OpenAI is obviously one of the leaders. LoveFrom would have imagined devices for the home, but the nature of this product and its functionalities still remain very vague. In addition to AI, Altman would also provide the funds necessary for the design of this device: he would have approached Masayoshi Son, the president of SoftBank, to put his hand in his pocket.

Read Former Apple chief designer wants to create “the iPhone of artificial intelligence”

It’s impossible to know what’s going on behind the scenes at LoveFrom, but finding Ive’s touch on a consumer electronic device would have a special flavor, far from Apple. The manufacturer is also seeking to influence the AI race, and rather than designing a device from scratch, it could build on what already exists. iOS 18 should indeed contain functions fueling generative AI, functions which would be made possible locally on the iPhone…