
OpenAI is acquiring io, the device startup that CEO Sam Altman and famed Apple designer Jony Ive have quietly been working on for two years, in an all-equity deal that values that startup at $6.5 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. As part of the unusual deal announced Wednesday, Ive and his design firm, LoveFrom, will now lead creative and design work at OpenAI.
“Thrilled to be partnering with Jony, [in my opinion] the greatest designer in the world,” said Altman in a post on X Wednesday. “Excited to try to create a new generation of AI-powered computers.”