Mehrere Hardwareprodukte von OpenAI wurden erstmals enthüllt. Die Firma rekrut eifrig führende Hardwareexperten von Apple und plant, die Produkte spätestens nächstes Jahr auf den Markt zu bringen.

OpenAI's hardware ambitions are starting to reach into Apple's territory.

Four months ago, OpenAI announced a whopping $6.5 billion acquisition of io, an AI hardware company co-founded by former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive. This was also OpenAI's largest deal to date.

Four months later, according to The Information, since the acquisition of io was announced, OpenAI has launched a crazy talent - poaching campaign. Just this year, it has poached more than twenty hardware engineers from Apple. Last year, the number was only 10, and in 2023, it was almost zero.

Jony Ive on the left, Sam Altman on the right.

These poached employees are all core members of Apple's consumer hardware team: user interface design, wearables, camera engineering, audio technology... These are almost all of Apple's specialties.

Among them, there are many heavy - weight figures. Cyrus Daniel Irani, the supervisor of Apple's human - machine interface design team who had worked at Apple for nearly 15 years, once developed the iconic colorful waveform animation for Siri with Jony Ive. This animation has been used since the iPhone 6S in 2015.

Matt Theobald, a veteran who had been engaged in manufacturing design at Apple for nearly 17 years; and Erik de Jong, an executive who once partially led Apple Watch's hardware team.

OpenAI's method of poaching talent is quite "simple and crude". It directly offers stock options worth over $1 million, with salaries far exceeding Apple's standards.

But money is not the only trump card. Tang Tan, the head of OpenAI's hardware, promised employees that working at OpenAI would involve less bureaucracy and more efficient collaboration, just like Apple's early wild - growth model.

There's no need to elaborate on Tang Tan's status at Apple. He once served as the product design supervisor for the iPhone and Apple Watch and was considered a key figure in translating Jony Ive's team's design concepts into mass - manufacturable products.

People familiar with the matter revealed that in some cases, Tang hardly needed to persuade his former colleagues, and they were willing to jump to OpenAI with him. In addition, compared with Apple's incremental improvements to the iPhone, OpenAI's vision is to completely change the way people interact with AI technology, which is extremely attractive to technicians.

Therefore, the report mentioned that after the news of the io acquisition was announced, many Apple employees actively contacted OpenAI, expressing their interest in joining. After all, having the opportunity to work with legends like Tan and Ive again is a rare chance for many designers and engineers.

It's worth mentioning that although OpenAI acquired io, Jony Ive did not directly join OpenAI.

During the negotiation with OpenAI, Jony Ive successfully retained the right to continue running his design company, LoveFrom. The company will continue to provide design services for various clients, including Ferrari and Airbnb in the past.

However, in recent months, OpenAI's device project seems to have occupied more of Ive's time. People familiar with the matter revealed that he often appears at OpenAI's office in San Francisco. LoveFrom has also become OpenAI's long - term design partner, responsible for the visual and interactive style design of software and hardware.

Although LoveFrom has also poached talent from Apple, the company is relatively small, mainly recruiting designers and hardly involving hardware engineering and manufacturing. This is the difference between LoveFrom and OpenAI in terms of recruitment direction.

In addition to poaching talent, OpenAI has also set its sights on the supply - chain network that Apple has built over several decades.

People familiar with the matter revealed that Luxshare Precision, the main Chinese contract manufacturer for iPhones and AirPods, has won the assembly contract for at least one OpenAI device. Goertek, which is responsible for assembling AirPods, HomePod, and Apple Watch, is also in talks with OpenAI to provide components such as speaker modules for future products.

So, what kind of hardware does OpenAI actually want to make?

Suppliers revealed that one of the products is shaped like a smart speaker without a screen. Other directions under consideration include smart glasses, digital recording devices, and wearable pins. The first batch of products is expected to be officially launched at the end of 2026 or the beginning of 2027.

According to previous disclosures, the core concept of these products is clear: to create an "always - present, almost invisible" AI companion, emphasizing voice interaction and context awareness, and completely subverting the traditional screen - dependent model.

In June this year, an audio startup called IYO sued OpenAI for trademark infringement regarding the use of "io". As Tang Tan said in a court statement at that time, "Our goal has always been, and remains, to create a series of products that can completely change the way people interact with AI technology."

Facing OpenAI's unscrupulous "talent - poaching" behavior, Apple is obviously restless.

People familiar with the matter revealed that last month, Apple suddenly canceled its annual closed - door meeting originally scheduled to be held in China. This meeting is usually attended by members of the manufacturing and supply - chain teams from the United States and China, where executives introduce future product plans to employees.

The reason for the cancellation is that Apple's top management is worried that the meeting would keep too many key executives away from the headquarters in Cupertino, California, for a long time, and this is a critical moment to prevent more executives from jumping to OpenAI.

Of course, OpenAI can't achieve success in the hardware field overnight just by throwing money around and poaching talent.

From tech giants to numerous emerging AI startups, there are many that want to challenge the dominant position of Apple's hardware such as the iPhone and iPad, but most have ended up failing.

Even Meta, when demonstrating the AI functions of its smart glasses at this week's Connect conference, had two on - site "mishaps" in a row. Zuckerberg could only blame it on network issues.

So far, the sales of truly AI - centered popular hardware developed from scratch have been underwhelming.

The most typical example is Humane, a startup that also poached a large number of Apple's hardware and operations experts. It wanted to create a wearable, AI - driven pin - shaped device. However, it received devastating reviews after shipping. Earlier this year, Humane was sold to HP for $116 million.

Based on the existing information, OpenAI is betting on the human - machine interaction method in the "post - smartphone era" - replacing touch and screens with voice and environmental awareness. The concept is avant - garde, but it's not easy to make users abandon the screen interaction they've been used to for twenty years and gain their trust in terms of privacy, accuracy, and scenario adaptation.

The release of OpenAI's first batch of products at the end of 2026 will also be an important watershed for the entire AI hardware industry - either it will open a new era or repeat Humane's mistakes. Of course, from the perspective of industry development, we hope to see the former.

Here is the link to the original report:

https://www.theinformation.com/articles/openai - raids - apple - hardware - talent - manufacturing - partners?rc=qmzset

This article is from the WeChat official account "APPSO". The author is the one who discovers tomorrow's products. 36Kr published it with authorization.