OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive • Hacker News Board

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#541

Post by lastofthemojito » Wed, May 21, 2025, 8:17 PM UTC

chairhairair wrote: post #124

nickrubin wrote: post #7

OpenAI announcement: https://openai.com/sam-and-jony/

Altman: "Jony was running a design firm called LoveFrom that had established itself as really the densest collection of talent that I've ever heard of in one place AND HAS PROBABLY EVER EXISTED IN THE WORLD." I felt physically sick from second-hand embarrassment watching this.

Seems like a weird move to say:

* Jony Ive has built a company with the densest collection of talent in the world

* OpenAI is spending 10 figures to buy a company from Ive

* It is not the aforementioned company with the dense collection of talent; it's instead a company that no one has heard of

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#542

Post by troupo » Wed, May 21, 2025, 8:17 PM UTC

qingcharles wrote: post #533

troupo wrote: post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ive left Apple 6 years ago . What exactly has his company done since? And before that he was responsible for some of the worst hardware decisions in Apple history.

It doesn't even matter. The video on the site says it all when Sam says "This guy designed the iPhone, the Macbook Pro!" -- they're buying a brand, a legend. They can now say they have "the iPod guy" on their team. Nobody else has Jony and that's what matters.

Matters... how?

They want us to believe they are building hardware. Okay, they bought a brand. Now what?

Apple spent decades building its hardware expertise on every level from industrial design to chips. LoveFrom has Ive ... and?

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#543

Post by MisterSandman » Wed, May 21, 2025, 8:18 PM UTC

minimaxir wrote: post #89

nickrubin wrote: post #7

OpenAI announcement: https://openai.com/sam-and-jony/

The quotes at the bottom are funny because they have a share link which implies that Sam and Jony thought they were insightful enough that people would want to actively share them. Even in the extreme tech crowd, who would share those?

You clearly haven’t been on my side of LinkedIn / Twitter.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#544

Post by Gothmog69 » Wed, May 21, 2025, 8:19 PM UTC

brap wrote: post #529

xgolwks wrote: post #386

What the other commenters are forgetting is that this is the same Sam Altman who planned and executed the extraction of Reddit from Condé Nast. This acquisition (and the Windsurf acquisition) are all-stock deals, which have the added benefit of reducing the control the nonprofit entity has over the for profit OpenAI entity. How do you extract the for profit entity out of the hands of a nonprofit? - Step 1: you have c…

Sam also ran a crypto scam called WorldCoin. Their secret sauce was tricking poor people in Africa.

How did they trick them by giving them free money?

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#545

Post by mrandish » Wed, May 21, 2025, 8:19 PM UTC

minimaxir wrote: post #3

From April: https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/07/openai-reportedly-mulls-bu... > OpenAI is said to have discussed acquiring the AI hardware startup that former Apple design lead Jony Ive is building with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. According to The Information, OpenAI could pay around $500 million for the fledgling company, called io Products. How the heck did the price go up 13x?

This announcement furthers my sense OpenAI is becoming a hype vehicle destined to be the iconic poster child of early AI hubris when the bubble pops. When I read the pretentious marketing copy and photo on the announcement page my first thought was "Someday this'll be linked on the Wikipedia page for 'The AI Bubble'".

I'm not even a hardcore AI skeptic, I think AI can be useful and valuable in the near-term (even outside coding!) and potentially transformative in the long-term but I also think current capabilities are over-hyped and wildly overvalued. I think AI is going through the typical hype cycle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gartner_hype_cycle) and we're currently late in the "Inflated Expectations" phase soon to be followed by the inevitable "Trough of Disillusionment".

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#546

Post by SlimIon729 » Wed, May 21, 2025, 8:19 PM UTC

DrBurrito wrote: post #521

xgolwks wrote: post #386

What the other commenters are forgetting is that this is the same Sam Altman who planned and executed the extraction of Reddit from Condé Nast. This acquisition (and the Windsurf acquisition) are all-stock deals, which have the added benefit of reducing the control the nonprofit entity has over the for profit OpenAI entity. How do you extract the for profit entity out of the hands of a nonprofit? - Step 1: you have c…

My understanding is that there are two types of stock, and the non profit controls the voting stock majority. This cannot be diluted. All other stock gives a (capped) fraction of the profits. This cannot be diluted by these operations, but the cap also can be a bad deal.

That's an interesting point about the different stock classes and voting rights. It adds another layer to how these kinds of acquisitions and valuations might play out in the long run, especially concerning the non-profit's influence. How often are such dual-class stock structures truly effective in maintaining the original mission when large sums and external valuations come into play?

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#547

Post by skylurk » Wed, May 21, 2025, 8:19 PM UTC

xeonmc wrote: post #464

zombiwoof wrote: post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

alumininium

This reminds me of Finding Nemo:

amnemonemomne

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#548

Post by catigula » Wed, May 21, 2025, 8:20 PM UTC

rafram wrote: post #481

catigula wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is interesting given that reddit has gone from a cultural powerhouse to something most people talk about shamefully, if at all.

Really? My perception (and their metrics seem to back this up) is that “normal people” are really on Reddit now. It’s the #7 most visited site in the world. It exploded during the pandemic - not just a site for internet nerds anymore.

My perception is that the site is horrifically partisan and punishing for average users.

The key is to not mistake your social circle with "normal".

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#549

Post by DaSHacka » Wed, May 21, 2025, 8:20 PM UTC

the_arun wrote: post #392

belter wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The AI hype seems driven more by stock valuations than genuine productivity gains. Developers now spend excessive time crafting prompts and managing AI generated pull requests :-) tasks that a simple email to a junior coder could have handled efficiently. We need a study that shows the lost productivity. When CEOs aggressively promote such tech solutions, it signals we're deep into bubble territory: “If you go forwar…

Apart from developer productivity, have we seen anything made 1000x better using GenAI?

"Amount of time college students spend on homework"? ;-)

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#550

Post by tmpz22 » Wed, May 21, 2025, 8:20 PM UTC

dowager_dan99 wrote: post #496

brador wrote: post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a trophy acqui-hire. Something to brag about over dinner and to investors.

so Altman's nerd-equivalent of a sexual conquest?

Oh there's a lot of sex cults in the SV investor sphere I assure you. Those "conquests" are happening too. Ask young women who have spent sufficient time and had exposure to the space.