Sam Altman is working with Jony Ive and Steve Jobs’ widow on the AI ​​device

I started LoveFrom in 2019 after nearly 30 years at Apple, where I led design efforts for the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.

Ive and Altman met several times over dinner, where they discussed the potential of launching a new AI-centric computing device, according to The Times. Finally, they agreed to build it together.

Altman’s new venture raised money privately and took funds from both Ive and the Emerson Collective, an impact investment and philanthropy firm founded by Powell Jobs. According to The Times, the startup is on track to raise up to $1 billion in seed funding by the end of 2024.

Marc Newson, who co-founded LoveFrom with Ive, told The Times they were still figuring out the product and its launch date.

In October 2023, Altman expressed his interest in AI devices while speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live event.

“I’m interested in this topic, I think it’s possible,” Altman told The Journal’s technology columnist Joanna Stern at the event.

“I think every new and big enough technology enables a new computing platform. But many ideas, but all in the early stages.”

Notably, Altman told Stern in October 2023 that he didn’t think AI devices would eclipse smartphones.

“Smartphones are great. I have no interest in trying to compete with a smartphone. It’s phenomenal at what it does,” Altman said.

“But I think it’s worth the effort to talk about or think about what we can do now that before we had computers that could think, or computers that could understand whatever you want to call it, it wasn’t possible. And if the answer is nothing, that would be a little disappointing.”

To be sure, Altman and Ive aren’t the only ones who see potential in an AI-centric device.

Former Apple employees Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno co-founded their own AI startup, Humane, in 2019 and launched their first product, Ai Pin, in November. However, the pin received bad reviews regarding its capability at launch.

In May, Bloomberg reported that Humane was looking for a buyer and was seeking a price between $750 million and $1 billion. The company was valued at $850 million last year, according to The Information.

The company saw more returns than purchases of Ai Pin between May and August of this year, The Verge reported last month, citing domestic sales data it obtained. Zoz Cuccias, a spokesperson for Humane, told The Verge that the company would not comment on the financials and would refer the matter to their legal counsel.

Representatives for OpenAI’s Altman and Emerson Collective’s Powell Jobs did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s after-hours requests for comment.