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Jony Ive's OpenAI Device Gets the Laurene Powell Jobs Nod of Approval

(Monday June 02, 2025 @11:30PM (BeauHD) from the billionaire's-blessing dept.)


Laurene Powell Jobs has publicly endorsed the [1]secretive AI hardware device being developed by Jony Ive and OpenAI, [2]expressing admiration for his design process and investing in his ventures . Ive says the project is an attempt to address the unintended harms of past tech like the iPhone, and Powell Jobs stands to benefit financially if the device succeeds. The Verge reports:

> In a new [3]interview published by The Financial Times , the two reminisce about Jony Ive's time working at Apple alongside Powell Jobs' late husband, Steve, and trying to make up for the "unintentional" harms associated with those efforts. [...] Powell Jobs, who has remained close friends with Ive since Steve Jobs passed in 2011, echoes his concerns, saying that "there are dark uses for certain types of technology," even if it "wasn't designed to have that result." Powell Jobs has invested in both Ive's LoveFrom design and io hardware startups following his departure from Apple. Ive notes that "there wouldn't be LoveFrom" if not for her involvement. Ive's io company is being purchased by OpenAI for almost $6.5 billion, and with her investment, Powell Jobs stands to gain if the secretive gadget proves anywhere near as successful as the iPhone.

>

> The pair gives away no extra details about the device that Ive is building with OpenAI, but Powell Jobs is expecting big things. She says she has watched "in real time how ideas go from a thought to some words, to some drawings, to some stories, and then to prototypes, and then a different type of prototype," Powell Jobs said. "And then something that you think: I can't imagine that getting any better. Then seeing the next version, which is even better. Just watching something brand new be manifested, it's a wondrous thing to behold."



[1] https://slashdot.org/story/25/05/21/1710237/openai-acquires-jony-ives-startup-in-65-billion-deal-to-create-ai-devices

[2] https://www.theverge.com/news/677921/jony-ive-openai-laurene-powell-jobs-interview

[3] https://www.ft.com/content/7f0a45b0-a3cc-4e1c-be71-1b7b42958d4d



Link is paywalled (Score:2)

by DesertNomad ( 885798 )

At least summarize the "trying to make up for the "unintentional" harms associated with those efforts" part. By whom were the harms committed and who suffered?

Re: (Score:2)

by h33t l4x0r ( 4107715 )

I'm gonna go with Apple and Foxconn workers, but she probably means cyberbullied white girls.

Re: (Score:2)

by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) *

> By whom were the harms committed and who suffered

It's widely reported that she was besties with Ghislane Maxwell, so maybe she knows something about harms and suffering

You can find old pics of them hanging out in swimsuits with a quick search.

Ok (Score:4, Interesting)

by Bahbus ( 1180627 )

Her endorsement is about as valuable as shit in the woods. Ive's designs are not at all interesting or even that good.

Re: (Score:2)

by Hadlock ( 143607 )

Ives got lucky with a couple of designs he cobuilt with jobs but Cook finally fired him when he kept trying to make the MacBook pro unreasonably thin with not enough ports. After he left Apple's laptops returned to being good and usable. I don't think Ives has had a particularly good design in quite some time.

Re: (Score:2)

by sound+vision ( 884283 )

Did he have anything to do with that butterfly keyboard?

Re: Ok (Score:2)

by reanjr ( 588767 )

He almost certainly did. Even if he didn't specially choose the butterfly switches, he was pushing for mico-thin laptops, which were the impetus for the keyboards.

Technology will be used for good or ill (Score:2)

by techmage ( 72232 )

Trying to create a technology without a dark side is a fools errand. Any tool, no matter how well built or well intended can and will be used for evil. This is just human nature.

This hype is worse than Segway (Score:3)

by Pinky's Brain ( 1158667 )

I think that 9 minute soft gay porn of Jony and Sam will be the most OpenAI will get out of the 6.5 Billion it spend.

hype machine underpowered (Score:2)

by marcle ( 1575627 )

Not easy to create a buzz about something if you're not even willing to say what it is. Steve Jobs could do it, but these guys are looking lame by comparison.

What an endorsement (Score:1)

by reanjr ( 588767 )

Laurene Powell Jobs is linked to child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, and own a newspaper that tries to downplay child sex trafficking as a myth.

Great endorsement, guys!

whispering in your ear (Score:1)

by ZipNada ( 10152669 )

I predict that Ive will make something that resembles a little bluetooth earpiece with a mic. Possibly will have a camera as well so the AI can get a sense of your surroundings. It will whisper a running commentary into your ear as you move through your day and you will mutter some instructions at times. The users will have a faraway look in their eyes most of the time, and they will look sharply at you as they AI tells them exactly who you are, what you do, and what you are likely to do.

I will know much of

You two ought to be more careful--your love could drag on for years and years.