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OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

bloomberg.com

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Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#361

Post by mrweasel »

vessenes wrote: post #316

OpenAI board: "Should we dilute the company 2% to acquire Jony Ive for the next 10 years? Yes." Hacker News: "Man these OpenAI folks are idiots." OpenAI absolutely should be getting in the hardware game; Ive is a mix of status acquisition and unicorn, and is not the only person/team/company you'd need to make a quality hardware product. But on balance I'd pay 2% of every company I ever had any financial engagement wi…

At the risk of being the idiot: Being very smart doesn't prevent you from saying and doing very stupid things.

My problem is that Altman is a very smart idiot. He already admitted that OpenAI have absolutely no idea how to make money. Apparently they've now given up on the idea of asking ChatGPT how to make money. Their "AI" not going to develop fast enough, if ever. So now they are just buying up stuff left and right? It might be part of some coherent plan, but if it is, no one else is seeing it.

Altman is smart enough to see that things are not working out and that he's going to run out of money and investor patience. He might also be smart enough to see that if OpenAI fails, so will 80 - 90% of his competitors, not sure if he care though. He needs OpenAI to survive, but he's not that kind of smart, and honestly I'm not sure anyone is.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#362

Post by apt-apt-apt-apt »

karaterobot wrote: post #30

Sometimes two collaborators make each other better than either are alone. I get the sense that's how Steve Jobs and Jony Ive were. I've not seen anything Ive has done since be as good as what he did before. Someone has to hold the spike so the other one can swing the hammer. My guess is that's not how this relationship with Altman will work. And that picture is terrifying, please take it down and destroy the camera t…

It looks like a much different type of collaboration is going on.. (someone had to say it x)

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#363

Post by zombiwoof »

dudus wrote: post #268

First Windsurf and now this. OpenAI is spending billions like there's nothing else to use this money for while being seemingly cash strapped for model training since they already signaled more investment rounds would be needed to remain competitive. They're trying to become too big to fail before they have a moat which won't work well.

Clearly foundation models don’t make money or a viable business on their own

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#365

Post by dbbk »

brentm wrote: post #358
alexey-salmin wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This still means 1.5B were paid in cash for a company from what I understood has neither clients nor even a product. Not exactly pocket money.

Appears from the outside as a very expensive aquihire but if you're getting the guy who essentially created the iPhone it could be worth it.

But they're not getting him. Jony isn't included in the deal.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#367

Post by maerF0x0 »

Below is wild speculation:

> Five years to the week after he walked away from the top job designing the iPhone [1]

Sounds to me like OpenAI is going to make it's own consumer device. Maybe designed by the AI itself. The AI Is choosing it's own body?

[1]: https://archive.is/yixNr#selection-615.0-615.81 "After Apple, Jony Ive Is Building an Empire of His Own" - NYT

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#368

Post by jermaustin1 »

alexey-salmin wrote: post #354
gnopgnip wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article 5 billion of the payment is equity in OpenAI. So they aren't spending cash

This still means 1.5B were paid in cash for a company from what I understood has neither clients nor even a product. Not exactly pocket money.

It kind of is, when they were given $500B and told to make a return in 10-ish years. They have to put the capital in play where it has the largest ROI potential. They are gambling that Jony has another iPhone in him.

I don't know enough about any of this to weigh in on it, but when you take investor money, you aren't supposed to sit on it or do slow burn (at least not VC money), its meant to be gasoline, and you moonshot with it.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#369

Post by fakedang »

dudus wrote: post #268

First Windsurf and now this. OpenAI is spending billions like there's nothing else to use this money for while being seemingly cash strapped for model training since they already signaled more investment rounds would be needed to remain competitive. They're trying to become too big to fail before they have a moat which won't work well.

Don't forget their Abilene chip factory.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#370

Post by zombiwoof »

tough wrote: post #320

tbh has jony ive produced any remarkable hardware piece since he left apple? Can't think of any maybe im wrong he must be buying the name or something or just the brains idk

Also remember Ive didn’t even plan for the watch to be fitness he wanted high end fashion. He’s not always the best. Lighting struck once and he says aluminum in a smart sounding way, give him a billion
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