Do not miss out on our newest tales. Add PCMag as a most popular supply on Google.
Former Apple designer Jony Ive isn’t lifting the curtain on his OpenAI undertaking simply but, however he hopes it’ll ease the psychological and emotional toll of our tech-obsessed lives.
“I don’t assume we now have a simple relationship with our know-how in the intervening time,” Ive advised an viewers at OpenAI’s developer convention on Monday.
“And somewhat than see AI as an extension of these challenges, I see it as an opportunity to make use of this most outstanding functionality to full-on handle a number of the overwhelm and despair that individuals really feel proper now,” he added. “And a few of that’s linked to the instruments that they’re utilizing.”
In Might, OpenAI acquired Ive’s “io” startup, which he created final 12 months to develop AI {hardware}. Formally, the corporate has solely stated the undertaking includes a “household of gadgets,” however a latest report from The Monetary Occasions says one of many merchandise will likely be a handheld machine with no display screen, able to taking audio and visible information by means of a microphone and digicam.
(Credit score: PCMag/Michael Kan)
The massive query is how the mysterious undertaking will stand out from at this time’s smartphones, sensible audio system, and different (failed) makes an attempt to characteristic AI. Throughout his speak, Ive signaled that OpenAI’s know-how can take computing in a brand new course with out making a psychological toll.
“Once I say we now have an uncomfortable relationship with our know-how, I imply that’s essentially the most obscene understatement,” he stated. Though Ive didn’t particularly spell out his considerations, his feedback may allude to the toxicity of social media and addictiveness of at this time’s gadgets.
Ive hinted that his machine will deal with attempting to make shoppers blissful, somewhat than merely elevating person productiveness. “I’m a bit crushed by how all critical all of us take ourselves,” he stated.
“I imply, that is critical stuff. Actually, the ramifications of not caring [about technology’s impact], not being cautious, are actually horrendous,” he added. “However by way of the gadgets that we design, by way of the interfaces that we design, if we are able to’t smile, truthfully, if it’s simply one other deeply critical, unique factor, I believe that might do us all an enormous disservice.”
Ive additionally famous that one in all his targets is to create a tool “that ought to simply work. It ought to appear inevitable; it ought to appear apparent.” His hope is that in this new wave of AI development, the next-generation instruments “will make us blissful, and fulfilled and extra peaceable, and fewer anxious and fewer disconnected.”
“Each bone in my physique believes this: We’ve got an opportunity to not simply form of redress them, however completely change the state of affairs that we discover ourselves in. That we don’t settle for that this must be the norm,” he stated.
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, PCMag’s mother or father firm, filed a lawsuit towards OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in coaching and working its AI techniques.
Get Our Finest Tales!
Your Every day Dose of Our High Tech Information
By clicking Signal Me Up, you verify you might be 16+ and conform to our Phrases of Use and Privateness Coverage.
Thanks for signing up!
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep watch over your inbox!
About Our Knowledgeable
Michael Kan
Senior Reporter
Expertise
I have been a journalist for over 15 years. I acquired my begin as a colleges and cities reporter in Kansas Metropolis and joined PCMag in 2017, the place I cowl satellite tv for pc web providers, cybersecurity, PC {hardware}, and extra. I am presently based mostly in San Francisco, however beforehand spent over 5 years in China, protecting the nation’s know-how sector.
Since 2020, I’ve coated the launch and explosive development of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite tv for pc web service, writing 600+ tales on availability and have launches, but in addition the regulatory battles over the growth of satellite tv for pc constellations, fights with rival suppliers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the trouble to increase into satellite-based cell service. I’ve combed by means of FCC filings for the most recent information and pushed to distant corners of California to check Starlink’s mobile service.
I additionally cowl cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. Earlier this 12 months, the FTC compelled Avast to pay shoppers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and promoting their private data to third-party purchasers, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.
I additionally cowl the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in entrance of a Finest Purchase to get an RTX 3000. I am now following how President Trump’s tariffs will have an effect on the trade. I am at all times desirous to be taught extra, so please soar within the feedback with suggestions and ship me ideas.
