Designer Jony Ive, who gave many of Apple’s most iconic products their distinct look, is working with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to design and build an AI product. And the company’s funding raise could reach $1 billion before the end of the year.
The project was confirmed in a feature about Ive that appears in The New York Times but did not give details about what, exactly, the project is. Industrial designer Marc Newson, who is working with Ive on the project, indicated the teams are still determining exactly what the project will be.
That’s not stopping investors from jumping in. The project could reach unicorn status before the end of December, with investors including Emerson Collective, which is run by Laurene Powell Jobs. Ive’s LoveDesign will be in charge of designing the product.
Ive and Altman first met last year, when Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, arranged a dinner between the two. Ive and Altman discussed how generative AI could make new computing devices possible, among other things. That led to more dinners and eventually an agreement to work together. In February, the startup found offices and hired 10 employees, including the person who succeeded Ive at Apple as well as the product development lead for the iPhone.
Ive left Apple in 2019 to start his own company. It has turned some heads with its creations thus far, including a new typeface and a new sort of button on coats, but to date LoveDesign has not played a part in any significant hardware designs, something that has baffled some onlookers, given Ive’s storied history in that field.