Sam Altman: AI project with Jony Ive isn't a phone
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Sam Altman, speaking Monday in New York. Photo: OpenAI
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirmed on Monday that the hardware project he is working on with former Apple design chief Jony Ive — rumored to be a new kind of AI-driven device — is not a phone.
What they're saying: "I don't think you should try to do a better phone," Altman said during an onstage interview with Axios' Ina Fried at an OpenAI event on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
State of play: Whatever the product is, it won't be coming any time soon.
- "It's a long way away," Altman said, noting that it took OpenAI more than four and a half years to ship its first product, "and I thought that was fast."
Catch up quick: Ive, who has long been reported to be working with Altman on a hardware project, confirmed the collaboration in a recent New York Times interview.
- For his part, Altman noted last year that major platform shifts usually usher in a new type of computing device. He told me then that "if there's something amazing to do, we'll do it."
- Altman previously invested in AI hardware startup Humane.
The big picture: OpenAI has been pushing forward along multiple paths, including the recent release of its o1 reasoning model and advanced voice chat with GPT-4o.
- It's also said to be close to finalizing another round of financing in the vicinity of $6.5 billion, which would be the largest venture capital round in tech history, per Axios' Dan Primack. Altman declined to comment on that.
Altman said OpenAI isn't done with big announcements this year, though he declined to say if the long-awaited GPT-5 is on tap — or even if that will be its name.
- "Expect some more cool things from us this year," Altman said. "Let's say that."
