OpenAI is buying<\/a> io, a hardware company founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and several other former engineers from his time there, including Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey, and Tang Tan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ive won\u2019t be joining OpenAI, and his design firm, LoveFrom, will continue to be independent, but they will \u201ctake over design for all of OpenAI, including its software,\u201d in a deal valued at nearly $6.5 billion, Bloomberg<\/em> reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n About 55 hardware engineers, software developers, and manufacturing experts will join OpenAI as part of the acquisition. That includes Cannon, Hankey, and Tan. The first devices following the acquisition are set to launch in 2026.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In an interview with Bloomberg<\/em>, Ive called AI hardware misfires like the Humane Pin and Rabbit R1, \u201cvery poor products,\u201d and said that \u201cThere has been an absence of new ways of thinking expressed in products.\u201d The first products aren\u2019t intended to be an iPhone killer, though: \u201cIn the same way that the smartphone didn\u2019t make the laptop go away, I don\u2019t think our first thing is going to make the smartphone go away,\u201d Altman told Bloomberg<\/em>. \u201cIt is a totally new kind of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The first product the team has been working on \u201chas just completely captured our imagination,\u201d Ive said in a video<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cJony recently gave me one of the prototypes of the device for the first time to take home, and I\u2019ve been able to live with it, and I think it is the coolest piece of technology that the world will have ever seen,\u201d Altman said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI am absolutely certain that we are literally on the brink of a new generation of technology that can make us our better selves,\u201d Ive said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWe gathered together the best hardware and software engineers, the best technologists, physicists, scientists, researchers and experts in product development and manufacturing,\u201d Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a joint post. \u201cMany of us have worked closely for decades. The io team, focused on developing products that inspire, empower and enable, will now merge with OpenAI to work more intimately with the research, engineering and product teams in San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cAI is an incredible technology, but great tools require work at the intersection of technology, design, and understanding people and the world,\u201d Altman said in a statement. \u201cNo one can do this like Jony and his team; the amount of care they put into every aspect of the process is extraordinary.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI have a growing sense that everything I have learned over the last 30 years has led me to this moment,\u201d Ive said. \u201cWhile I am both anxious and excited about the responsibility of the substantial work ahead, I am so grateful for the opportunity to be part of such an important collaboration. The values and vision of Sam and the teams at OpenAI and io are a rare inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cA number of us looked at each other and said, \u2018This is probably the most incredible technology of our career,\u2019\u201d Hankey said in an interview with Bloomberg<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n