OpenAI and iPhone designer Jony Ive have officially teamed up

Over the past year, BGR has reported on OpenAI’s Sam Altman and former Apple design chief Jony Ive working together on a new device. Now, it’s official: The two tech titans announced that LoveFrom is merging with OpenAI while also introducing a new company called io.

In a nine-minute video announcement, Sam Altman and Jony Ive walk through San Francisco, telling the story of their friendship. However, more than an ode to the city and their lucrative friendship, the two tech titans made an announcement that could take the industry by storm: An AI-first company (almost) ready to introduce a “family of AI products.”

So far, what we know about io’s future product is that it’s a friend or companion that is always ready to help you. io’s AI product will let users communicate, expand their knowledge, and create quickly without ever having to unlock a phone or open a laptop.

So far, we only know that what Jony Ive and Sam Altman are creating is “not a phone,” which could ultimately be an AI phone without a screen, in addition to other AI-enabled products.

While little is known about this partnership, it was a breakthrough moment to watch it from my iPhone at the same time as Google is improving agentic browsing and Apple is about to hold a WWDC with improved but familiar Apple Intelligence capabilities.

This is an extraordinary moment.

Computers are now seeing, thinking and understanding.

Despite this unprecedented capability, our experience remains shaped by traditional products and interfaces.

Two years ago, Jony Ive and the creative collective LoveFrom, quietly began collaborating with Sam Altman and the team at OpenAI.

A collaboration built upon friendship, curiosity and shared values quickly grew in ambition. Tentative ideas and explorations evolved into tangible designs.

The ideas seemed important and useful. They were optimistic and hopeful. They were inspiring. They made everyone smile. They reminded us of a time when we celebrated human achievement, grateful for new tools that helped us learn, explore and create.

It became clear that our ambitions to develop, engineer and manufacture a new family of products demanded an entirely new company. And so, one year ago, Jony founded io with Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey and Tang Tan.

We gathered together the best hardware and software engineers, the best technologists, physicists, scientists, researchers and experts in product development and manufacturing. Many of us have worked closely for decades.

The io team, focused on developing products that inspire, empower and enable, will now merge with OpenAI to work more intimately with the research, engineering and product teams in San Francisco.

As io merges with OpenAI, Jony and LoveFrom will assume deep design and creative responsibilities across OpenAI and io.

We could not possibly be more excited.