OpenAI Eyes $500M Acquisition of Jony Ive’s AI Hardware Startup as It Moves Toward Consumer Devices
OpenAI is reportedly exploring a bold new direction: acquiring io Products, an AI hardware startup co-founded by former Apple design legend Jony Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, in a deal that could be worth up to $500 million. This potential move signals OpenAI’s growing ambition to move beyond software like ChatGPT and into the world of consumer tech, an area traditionally dominated by companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon.
What Is io Products?
Founded by Ive and Altman, io Products is focused on building AI-first consumer devices, with an emphasis on reducing screen time and digital noise. The flagship concept is reportedly a screenless AI assistant, a device designed to blend seamlessly into everyday life through voice interaction, contextual awareness, and possibly projection-based visuals.
The goal? Reinvent how humans interact with intelligent machines, moving away from touchscreens toward something more ambient, intuitive, and less socially disruptive than the iPhone.
Why It Matters for OpenAI
If OpenAI acquires io Products, it would gain:
- Next-generation hardware concepts driven by AI
- A dream team of former Apple designers, including Tang Tan and Evans Hankey
- A fast track into the consumer hardware market, where OpenAI currently has no presence
The acquisition would also bring OpenAI closer to becoming a full-stack tech company, controlling both the AI software (like GPT models) and the physical platforms they run on.
An Apple-Level Design Philosophy
Jony Ive’s involvement is no minor detail. He spent over two decades shaping Apple’s most iconic products, from the iMac and iPod to the iPhone and Apple Watch. Now, he’s applying that same design-first ethos to AI devices with the help of former Apple colleagues.
The idea of a screenless phone, one that doesn’t pull you in but rather works in the background, fits perfectly into Ive’s human-centric design philosophy and Altman’s vision for AI that feels less like software and more like a natural extension of thought.
Who Else Is Backing This?
Funding for io Products has come from high-profile investors, most notably Laurene Powell Jobs, via the Emerson Collective. Powell Jobs has become one of the most influential figures in AI investing, having backed more than 11 AI startups across education, healthcare, and environmental tech.
Her support of this venture underscores the belief that what Ive and Altman are building could shape the next era of personal computing.
Buyout or Partnership?
Sources indicate OpenAI is weighing two paths:
- A full acquisition, which would bring the io Products team in-house
- A strategic partnership, allowing both orgs to co-develop AI-native consumer products without full integration
Either path would mark a significant pivot for OpenAI, away from just being a provider of AI APIs and chatbots, and toward becoming a consumer tech player in its own right.
Big Picture
If the deal goes through, OpenAI would find itself suddenly competing with Apple, not just in intelligence, but in hardware. It would also represent a major leap toward a post-screen, post-app future, where AI weaves into daily life not through phones or laptops, but through ambient, assistive objects we barely notice, until we need them.
That’s not just innovation. That’s disruption on a Jony Ive scale.
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