San Francisco, CA — Legendary British designer Sir Jony Ive, the creative force behind the iPhone and other iconic Apple products, is teaming up with artificial intelligence powerhouse OpenAI in a bold move to develop a new generation of AI-driven hardware.

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, announced Wednesday that it will acquire io, a design-focused startup founded by Sir Jony last year. As part of the deal, Sir Jony will take on “deep design and creative responsibilities” across OpenAI’s expanding portfolio. The acquisition marks a significant step in OpenAI’s ambitions to integrate artificial intelligence more seamlessly into everyday devices.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman described the partnership as a chance to “completely reimagine what it means to use a computer.”

“We think there’s an opportunity here to build a family of devices that are natively AI-first,” Altman said in a video announcing the move.

The collaboration is seen by many in the tech world as a direct challenge to Apple, a company some critics say has lagged behind in embedding advanced AI features into its flagship devices. News of the deal sent Apple shares down more than 2% on Wednesday.

Sir Jony Ive spent over three decades at Apple, where he played a pivotal role in designing game-changing products such as the iPhone, iPod, and MacBook. He left the company in 2019 to launch his own creative firm, LoveFrom, which has worked with brands including Airbnb and Moncler.

The startup io was quietly formed after years of behind-the-scenes collaboration between Ive and OpenAI. According to the announcement, the decision to launch the new company stemmed from a shared vision between the two to create “an entirely new family of products.”

“It became clear that our ambitions to develop, engineer and manufacture a new family of products demanded an entirely new company,” the firms said in a joint statement.

Prior to the merger, OpenAI already held a 23% stake in io. U.S. media reports have pegged the valuation of the deal at approximately $6.4 billion. LoveFrom will continue to operate independently.

In the announcement video, Sir Jony said he believed the world stood on the “brink of a new generation of technology,” emphasizing the importance of thoughtful design in shaping how AI will be experienced by users.

OpenAI, which sparked a global AI boom with the 2022 release of ChatGPT, has rapidly expanded beyond software and is now moving into retail, shopping, and search — sectors long dominated by traditional tech giants. Its pivot into hardware mirrors similar moves by companies like Meta, Google, and Apple, all of which have invested in wearable technologies such as smart glasses and headsets.