In the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI), news often arrives at the speed of light. However, there is one project that, despite its enormous disruptive potential, has fallen into a silence as thick as it is disturbing: the alliance between OpenAI and legendary designer Jony Ive.
At the end of May of this year, one of the most impactful collaborations of the decade was confirmed: OpenAI and Jony Ive (the mastermind behind the design of the iPhone and other Apple icons) would team up to create the device that would replace the smartphone*.
To seal the deal, OpenAI acquired Ive's design firm for a monumental sum: $6.5 billion. The market froze, anxiously awaiting the next big milestone.
Expectations were fueled with negative descriptions: it wouldn't be a cell phone, it wouldn't have a screen, and it wouldn't be glasses either. We were told what it wasn't, suggesting a device based purely on AI interaction through voice and gestures, about the size of a phone.
Almost six months have passed since that announcement, and all we've received is absolute silence.
The lack of information from those responsible is not positive. While it's common for top-secret projects to remain secretive, some specialized forums are already openly talking about general "problems," and even the most daring are speculating about the project's possible cancellation.
The absence of a statement or any explanation, however minimal, fuels uncertainty about the viability of such ambitious hardware.
It's important to remember OpenAI's financial context. Although it's the most talked-about tech company of the moment, it remains, essentially, a startup with an insatiable appetite for capital.
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has acknowledged that the company requires billions to continue operating and developing its AI models. Projections of potential real profits are still about five years away. In the meantime, it is sustained by massive capital injections, reporting multi-million-dollar losses each year.
In this context of intense need for funding and focus on software development (which is its core business), it's understandable that a $6.5 billion hardware project may have been relegated to the background. Perhaps Altman has more pressing concerns than a "small" investment made half a year ago.
Time will be the final judge of this alliance. Only time will tell us whether the mysterious mobile phone replacement powered by AI and Ive's design will finally see the light of day, or whether it will remain an expensive footnote in the history of Artificial Intelligence.
We'll have to wait a little longer.
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