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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

#771

Post by mushufasa »

Jackson__ wrote: post #713
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.

They've already claimed that there will be no "GPT-5" LLM, and that instead what they want to call "GPT-5" is a fusion of their various models like 4o, dalle, their video model, etc. That in and of itself is a move that makes it quite clear to me they've hit a wall on the intelligence side. Add these purchases, and it seems like they are extremely desperate.

Userbase and customer relationships are valuable. If someone else creates GPT5, but doesn't have a large user base, then OpenAI the company could buy that invention. Or, as we saw with deepseek in January, fast-follow with a comparable model within a reasonable amount of time.

Brands have value. If someone has logged into ChatGPT for two years daily, they have built a habit. That habit certainly can be disrupted, but there's a level of inertia and barrier -- something else has to be 10x better and not just 2x better.

When DeepSeek came out, I tried it out but didn't fundamentally switch my habit. OpenAI + Claude + Gemini instead caught up.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#772

Post by mmaunder »

anonzzzies wrote: post #514

So does openai know how to widen the context window without it taking more money? Otherwise Google wins, again. And this is all boring. Gemini 2.5 pro preview where you can just insert all files you have and actually it doesn't compress and has it in memory is just what you want. All the compression tricks etc really are shit compared. 32k input tokens is a joke now once you tried this. As in bearish on openai if the…

Yeah Google has it all vertically integrated from the science to the chips and everything in between. It’s theirs to lose.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#773

Post by hansworst »

mushufasa wrote: post #771
Jackson__ wrote: post #713

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've already claimed that there will be no "GPT-5" LLM, and that instead what they want to call "GPT-5" is a fusion of their various models like 4o, dalle, their video model, etc. That in and of itself is a move that makes it quite clear to me they've hit a wall on the intelligence side. Add these purchases, and it seems like they are extremely desperate.

Userbase and customer relationships are valuable. If someone else creates GPT5, but doesn't have a large user base, then OpenAI the company could buy that invention. Or, as we saw with deepseek in January, fast-follow with a comparable model within a reasonable amount of time. Brands have value. If someone has logged into ChatGPT for two years daily, they have built a habit. That habit certainly can be disrupted, but…

Following that logic, they’ll have to keep spending quite a bit to get to the user base of the current hyperscalers, some of which are already ahead of OpenAI in terms of LLM performance.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#774

Post by ivape »

Jackson__ wrote: post #713
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.

They've already claimed that there will be no "GPT-5" LLM, and that instead what they want to call "GPT-5" is a fusion of their various models like 4o, dalle, their video model, etc. That in and of itself is a move that makes it quite clear to me they've hit a wall on the intelligence side. Add these purchases, and it seems like they are extremely desperate.

There is a space to make a suite of products that synergize entirely. Glasses, watches, buttons, clothes (yes, clothes), and home devices/computers/tvs. The reason they are in a spearhead position is because unlike like Google and Apple, they don't need to maintain a legacy paradigm. They don't have to introduce new tech and make it work with old tech, while also maintaining usability familiarity (e.g You can't just change iOS and Android).

They take zero risk while attacking user fatigue (people just get bored of stuff). The current leaders take all the risk following OpenAI because everyone will complain about the changes no matter what they do, and just come up with a reason to switch. This is a human phenomenon that is truly fucked up, the same as when a partner in a relationship is ready to move on no matter what you do.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#775

Post by mmaunder »

criddell wrote: post #413
ryanSrich wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I consider myself extremely plugged in to what's going on with AI and I still couldn't tell you what Ive's company does without looking it up

Maybe the company is inconsequential and this is just about hiring Ive?

It’s about putting lipstick on OpenAI. They’re in trouble.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#776

Post by kaliqt »

mushufasa wrote: post #771
Jackson__ wrote: post #713

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've already claimed that there will be no "GPT-5" LLM, and that instead what they want to call "GPT-5" is a fusion of their various models like 4o, dalle, their video model, etc. That in and of itself is a move that makes it quite clear to me they've hit a wall on the intelligence side. Add these purchases, and it seems like they are extremely desperate.

Userbase and customer relationships are valuable. If someone else creates GPT5, but doesn't have a large user base, then OpenAI the company could buy that invention. Or, as we saw with deepseek in January, fast-follow with a comparable model within a reasonable amount of time. Brands have value. If someone has logged into ChatGPT for two years daily, they have built a habit. That habit certainly can be disrupted, but…

OpenAI would not be able to as every other company and governments even will make bids and OpenAI is not well loved to get favor to tilt the scale back in their direction.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#777

Post by Animats »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #768
Animats wrote: post #692

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The form factor that suggests is an AR headset. Google, Meta, and others have those. They're all flops. Too bulky. Carmack has said that for VR/AR to get any traction, the headgear needs to come down to swim goggle size, and to go mainstream, it has to come down to eyeglass size. He's probably right. Ive would be the kind of guy to push in that direction.

> Carmack has said that for VR/AR to get any traction, the headgear needs to come down to swim goggle size, and to go mainstream, it has to come down to eyeglass size. He's probably right. Ive would be the kind of guy to push in that direction. I agree with the first 2 sentences, but not the last. Everyone and their grandmother knows size and bulkiness are big blockers to VR/AR adoption. But the reason we don't have…

Right. So the trick is to get people to put up with carrying the necessary hardware around. Ive made iDweebs cool. Even the wired version.

Apple already tried a version of their headgear where an additional belt-mounted box and cable are needed. This was unpopular but necessary. It's up to Ive to make wearing a utility belt cool.

It just takes marketing.[1]

[1] https://previews.123rf.com/images/pressmaster/pressmaster110...

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#778

Post by danpalmer »

mushufasa wrote: post #771
Jackson__ wrote: post #713

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've already claimed that there will be no "GPT-5" LLM, and that instead what they want to call "GPT-5" is a fusion of their various models like 4o, dalle, their video model, etc. That in and of itself is a move that makes it quite clear to me they've hit a wall on the intelligence side. Add these purchases, and it seems like they are extremely desperate.

Userbase and customer relationships are valuable. If someone else creates GPT5, but doesn't have a large user base, then OpenAI the company could buy that invention. Or, as we saw with deepseek in January, fast-follow with a comparable model within a reasonable amount of time. Brands have value. If someone has logged into ChatGPT for two years daily, they have built a habit. That habit certainly can be disrupted, but…

> Userbase and customer relationships are valuable

Which of these does Jony Ive's company have?

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#779

Post by simmanian »

Jackson__ wrote: post #713
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.

They've already claimed that there will be no "GPT-5" LLM, and that instead what they want to call "GPT-5" is a fusion of their various models like 4o, dalle, their video model, etc. That in and of itself is a move that makes it quite clear to me they've hit a wall on the intelligence side. Add these purchases, and it seems like they are extremely desperate.

> and that what they want to call "GPT-5" is a fusion of their various models like 4o, dalle...

Do you have a source? I ask because I read the opposite.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#780

Post by agentcoops »

Jackson__ wrote: post #713
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.

They've already claimed that there will be no "GPT-5" LLM, and that instead what they want to call "GPT-5" is a fusion of their various models like 4o, dalle, their video model, etc. That in and of itself is a move that makes it quite clear to me they've hit a wall on the intelligence side. Add these purchases, and it seems like they are extremely desperate.

I'm not so sure it's desperation. As an alternative hypothesis, we might simply view it as an attempt from a temporary position of strength to secure their tremendous lead as the primary consumer access point to intelligence. I don't think it's much of an exaggeration to suggest that this is one of the most important open questions at the moment -- one which will likely be relatively winner-takes-all (in contrast to the more commoditized B2B/API side) and where the winner likely won't be decided based on the intelligence side alone. The questions also aren't entirely separate since the winner, here, will have such incomparably valuable usage data...

Unlike most successful startups, OpenAI is not faced with the possibility that the giants (Apple, Google, Microsoft) decide to look their way, but the reality that these are their real competitors and that the stakes are existential for many of them (trends indicating a shift away from search etc). The most likely outcome remains that one if not all of the giants eventually manage to produce a halfway-decent product experience that reduces OpenAI to a B2B player.

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