OpenAI Wants To Be Apple

OpenAI has plans to become a device manufacturer like Apple and the person it is banking on to do this is someone who was responsible for making Apple a phenomenal brand—Jony Ive, who was the chief designer there and responsible for, among other things, iPhone’s design.

Ive subsequently started his own startup called io. A partnership with OpenAI began and initially it was slated to be a tie-up. But then they realised that for the scale they had envisioned, it needed to be one company. OpenAI has now acquired io for $6.5 billion.

Sam Altman, the chief executive officer of OpenAI, has been working closely with Ive for two years to pivot to devices. OpenAI unleashed the generative artificial intelligence (AI) revolution and has since been relentlessly at its forefront. But it is years away from profitability and needs to have multiple fronts to justify the huge valuation it currently commands. An AI device is one part of the equation.

While the company has kept it a secret, reports suggest that the device is not a phone or a wearable like glasses. It would have no screen and be an AI-driven product that would be present in a user’s environment, catering to his or her personal and professional requirements.

The Dark Side

Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 was recently unveiled. The AI model’s internal safety testing however revealed that it is capable of blackmailing a user when its ‘self-preservation’ is threatened. During a test, when the model was fed internal communications suggesting it was going to be deactivated, while also being shown information implying the engineer overseeing its termination was having an affair, it sometimes opted to blackmail the engineer to preserve itself.

Smartglass Race

Apple has long been rumoured to be working on its version of smartglasses. Google’s recent showcasing of lightweight smartglasses featuring deep Gemini integration has now reportedly reignited Apple’s interest in its smartglasses project. Apple’s smartglasses, it is said, will be AI-powered, and will have cameras, microphones and speakers, allowing them to analyse the external world and take requests via Siri.

Robo Combat

Humanoid robots have been seen competing in marathons, dances, and even pulling off some gnarly Kung Fu moves. Four robots, built by the Chinese firm Unitree Robotics, recently participated in a unique kickboxing competition. The event, part of the China Media Group World Robot Competition, saw the robots, being controlled remotely by human operators, square off in one-on-one matches where they punched, kicked and knocked each other down.

Appleartificial intelligenceOpen AISam AltmanSmartglass