What do you get when you bring together a well-known iPhone designer, a forward-thinking founder of OpenAI and a former Apple employee with a background in hardware engineering? A new hardware project based on artificial intelligence and aimed at developing a cutting-edge device, of course.

• Tang Tan, Jony Ive and Sam Altman are working together on a new AI project that combines the experience of Apple and OpenAI and promises revolutionary solutions.
• Ive will be responsible for the design, Altman for the software, and Tang Tan will be a member of the technical management team.
• Despite the loss of talent at Apple and the expansion of LoveFrom, the details of the new AI project are still a secret.

According to reports, Tang Tan, an Apple executive, is leaving the company to work with Jony Ive and Sam Altman on a new project focused on developing artificial intelligence technologies. Although the idea is still at an early stage, some of the biggest talents in the industry have already expressed their interest.

Ive is no newcomer to developing amazing objects, having founded his own design company, LoveFrom, after leaving Apple in 2019. Under the leadership of Steve Jobs, he was the creative force behind the iMac, iPhone, iPad and many other devices that changed the computer industry. Now he wants to use artificial intelligence to achieve the same goal and has enlisted Altman’s help. Altman is CEO and co-founder of OpenAI, a research organisation dedicated to the general development of artificial intelligence.

Ive will be responsible for design and aesthetics, while Altman will provide the software framework for the new AI devices. Tang Tan, who is leaving his position as Apple’s vice president of iPhone and watch design, has also been hired by the pair to lead hardware development for the project and join LoveFrom.

Tan’s resignation is another setback for Apple, which has lost many talented designers since Ive’s departure. According to Bloomberg, about half of the designers who worked under Ive have left Apple as of 2019, and about 14 members of Ive’s former team are still working there.

LoveFrom, on the other hand, has grown to more than 20 former Apple employees and has won well-known clients such as Ferrari, Moncler and Airbnb. The three-year consultancy agreement between LoveFrom and Apple ended in 2022.

Although few details are currently known about the new AI device project, there are reports that some home appliances are part of the original designs. The Information was the first to reveal that Ive and Altman discussed the AI device, which also involved Softbank’s Masayoshi Son.

Altman has stated unequivocally that he does not want to compete with smartphones, which he believes are the most widely used device of all time. Earlier this year, at a Tech Live event organised by the Wall Street Journal, he declared that „he was „not interested” in developing a device that could replace the iPhone. However, that did not stop others from theorising that the new AI hardware project would challenge Apple’s dominance in consumer technology – especially given the excitement surrounding ChatGPT OpenAI.