OpenAI buys Jony Ive's startup for $ 6.5 billion to create the devices of the future - but why?

The deal was formalized entirely in the form of a share swap. That is, OpenAI, valued by investors at $80+ billion, is giving up a stake in itself to get the iconic designer behind the birth of the iPhone, MacBook and Apple Watch on board.

The idea is to combine the best AI technology with the best industrial design - and in doing so, prepare products for a new era.

But what's the logic behind it?

Sam Altman himself has repeatedly said that AGI will be achieved in the next two years. Artificial intelligence will be able to do everything better than humans: write code, negotiate, diagnose, design, and even raise children - at least in words.

Which begs a reasonable question:

If AI is about to replace everyone, why spend $6.5 billion on a human designer?

Can such an investment be recouped in two years, before the "almighty AI" arrives? Doubtful. Especially when you remember how Ilon Musk has been promising robotaxis "next year" since 2013. Spoiler: didn't happen.

Rather, it's a recognition that even the most advanced AI systems are not yet capable of autonomously designing a device you'll actually want to hold in your hands. Because beyond neural networks, what matters is taste, empathy, intuition, and experience - something that remains beyond the machines' capabilities for now.

What kind of products will emerge?

No details yet. All they say is that Ive and Altman are working on a "new kind of personal device ". It's supposed to be a "natural interface" for interacting with AGI. We're probably talking about a reimagined smartphone, glasses, wearable AI assistant - something like Humane's AI Pin, but Apple-style.

What does this mean for the industry?

• OpenAI is betting on iron, realizing that AI without an understandable "wrapper" will remain an abstraction.
• The AGI era, if it comes, won't come as soon as they promise - since they have to bring in people with a sense of form and context.
• Jony Ive, by all accounts, is not going to retire. And we may soon see his most ambitious project since the iPhone.