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OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

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Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#172
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The manor criticism of them is that they are just phone apps pointlessly shoved into an extra piece of hardware. What about them do you think was directionally correct? I.e. why not just use your phone?

"phone" is over - I would just make better devices, there would be a communications device, you could call it a phone or whatever. (Frankly: I just genuinely believe I could do a really good job here is all, I have no real reason to believe that except pure ego, I'm fine admitting that)

I moved back to a flip phone (sonim xp3+) and love it as a piece of hardware. Built like a stone I could skip. Hold down a number for speed dial. Flip it closed to hang up.

I just want a competent personal assistant on speed dial I can talk to in private.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#173
post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The next major device will definitely be AI-first. Be more specific though: what form factor will such a device be in? A coffee maker? A phone? Glasses? Cars? A building? The AI wave seems to be hoping a whole load of hardware revolutions, such as holographic displays, will just appear out of the ether because it fits with their vision of how things should be.

I don’t see why the device has to be in a significantly different form factor than current phones. AI alleviates one of the major problems phones have right now, which is that typing on them is slow. If you can type a half-assed message, and have AI fill in the blanks, or reliably transcribe your voice, that’s a huge improvement to the phone in its current form factor. No reason the screen or interfaces have to under…

If it's a phone it will have to run Android, with the Play Store to get the apps, at which point it will be very dependent on Google.

You aren't going to get people giving up their mobile banking apps to carry an AI phone that doesn't quite work, hence the need for it to be something else.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#174
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No question that Ive is a legend Not sure why he deserves to be a legend, to be honest, but yes, he is a legend. He did a good job, but those small and minimalistic designs were only possible because of the efforts of entire teams of engineers, of which the public never heard anything.

I absolutely despise comments like these, and you only see them on HN. It's like saying great architects aren't great, it's the construction workers who should get the credit.

HN isn't special here. There's conflict between people whose job is to make something look pretty and people whose job is to make it work in every industry.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#175

The comments on this article are very interesting. The next major device will definitely be AI-first. Apple is currently trying to jerry-rig AI into their existing product, the iPhone. This has so far not only been a complete failure, but is bound to be a complete failure in the end. The next Apple will be the one that creates an AI-first device entirely from scratch. AI lies at the core of everything it does. It's a…

I think it should make interfaces on the fly depending on what you want to do.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#176

The comments on this article are very interesting. The next major device will definitely be AI-first. Apple is currently trying to jerry-rig AI into their existing product, the iPhone. This has so far not only been a complete failure, but is bound to be a complete failure in the end. The next Apple will be the one that creates an AI-first device entirely from scratch. AI lies at the core of everything it does. It's a…

The reason why Apple has failed to integrate AI successfully into the iPhone isn't because we need an AI-first device, it's because AI is still universally being strategized as a solution in search of a problem. An AI-first device at this stage will fail for the same reason: it doesn't have a mission statement to solve particular problems for real people, it has a mission statement to be an AI device. The absolute be…

> it's because AI is still universally being strategized as a solution in search of a problem

What Apple showed seems quite useful. It is a shame they failed spectacularly at execution. Even the simplest things that should be answerable by an LLM and their data, which is what a lot of people want, should be a very low hanging fruit - so much utility without building a complete experience from scratch.

Why cant I just say 'do I have any notifications from a bank?' or 'show me emails that require my attention'. Those things are simple if done with a combination of multiple tools (e.g. feeding email content somewhere, asking it to classify, show the results), yet a three trillion dollar company, with dedicated hardware release just for this purpose, failed to achieve it.

I might be over simplifying things, but with infinite resources, they should be able to do better.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#177
post #19

The name is "IO". A day after the Google I/O keynote. Another purposely planned derailment. It's probably some form of glasses with ChatGPT on it but obvious glazing, pomp and ceremony of this announcement talking directly to Apple. Apple has 1 year to respond.

Google are the ones who named their conference after such a popular concept.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#180
post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The next major device will definitely be AI-first. Be more specific though: what form factor will such a device be in? A coffee maker? A phone? Glasses? Cars? A building? The AI wave seems to be hoping a whole load of hardware revolutions, such as holographic displays, will just appear out of the ether because it fits with their vision of how things should be.

I don’t see why the device has to be in a significantly different form factor than current phones. AI alleviates one of the major problems phones have right now, which is that typing on them is slow. If you can type a half-assed message, and have AI fill in the blanks, or reliably transcribe your voice, that’s a huge improvement to the phone in its current form factor. No reason the screen or interfaces have to under…

I agree. Humane tried with a new form factor. An audio-only interface is too limited. A watch screen is too small. There's a lot going for a decently sized screen that lets you look images, maps, emails, webpages that you control (rather than projecting onto the nearest (in)convenient surface), that fits in your pocket. Good enough BCIs are still years/decades away.

I could imagine AirPods that connect to various screens embedded in the environment, which you temporarily use when next to them. But it's still jot as convenient as a screen in your pocket.

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