As OpenAI buys Jony Ive and Sam Altman’s AI startup, the two have shared with staff a few hints about what their highly secret device will do.
After weeks of speculation, OpenAI has bought Jony Ive and Sam Altman’s AI startup for $6.5 billion. Publicly, OpenAI has posted a video discussing Ive and Altman’s partnership in general, but now further details of their work has been revealed.
According to the Washington Post, Altman told OpenAI staff in a meeting on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, that the aim is to ship 100 million AI “companions.” He described it as “the chance to do the biggest thing we’ve ever done as a company here.”
“We’re not going to ship 100 million devices literally on day one,” Altman said. But he continued that OpenAI would ship that number of devices “faster than any company has ever shipped 100 million of something new before.”
What the device will and won’t be
Altman and Ive then reportedly told staff that the plan was for their device to be a user’s third one, something they would put on their desks after an iPhone and a MacBook Pro. It would be able to go on a desk or in a pocket, and it would be unobtrusive.
The device is said to be entirely aware of a user’s surroundings, and even their life. Despite speaking chiefly of a device, singular, Altman also said it would be a “family of devices,” and Ive referred to it as “a new design movement.”
Speaking of their original plans and the eventual need to join forces with OpenAI, the two men said that they had intended for Ive’s startup to build and sell its own device, using OpenAI technology. It was because the device is not just an accessory, but instead a central facet of using OpenAI, Altman said the two companies had to combine.
“We [Ive and Altman] both got excited about the idea that, if you subscribed to ChatGPT, we should just mail you new computers, and you should use those,” said Altman.
However, reportedly, Ive and Altman had concluded that existing devices would not work. Specifically, current laptops, or websites, would not be sufficient.
Altman said that current use of AI “is not the sci-fi dream of what AI could do to enable you in all the ways that I think the models are capable of.”
It’s already been reported that the device will not be a smartphone, and Altman has now said that it isn’t a pair of glasses. Then Jony Ive is said to be skeptical about making a wearable device.
What happens next
It’s already known that the device by Jony Ive’s “io” company has reached a prototype stage, because Altman revealed publicly that he has been able to take one home, and “live with it.”
In this meeting, Altman reportedly told staff that his goal is to release a device by late 2026.
He further suggested that acquiring Ive’s “io” could potentially add $1 trillion in value to OpenAI.
Prior to OpenAI buying the company, Jony Ive was reported to be seeking funding of $1 billion for the device. Investors including Laurene Powell Jobs are said to have invested.
