Ask HN: What do people think Jony Ive is building with OpenAI?

1 retube 11 6/2/2025, 11:45:59 AM
Apparently a device distinct from a phone, and maybe not with a screen? Am struggling to conceive of functionality that could not be put on a phone, nor can imagine people would want to carry around another device. So interested in what the HN community think

Comments (11)

sfmz · 1d ago
My friend used to clip a dragon from the ren-fest onto his ear. Thinking like that you could clip a camera onto your ear and dashcam your life into the cloud.

Hardware-wise its got be a camera, bluetooth (pair w/ phone for cloud access), microphone. The human body doesn't offer a lot of options for stashing a dashcam. Wear around the neck, put into glasses, put it on the ear, or embed into clothing, whereas a watch doesn't work because its not facing the right direction.

Reminds me of how I think about last-mile transportation; the way the body works you can either ride something forward like a bicycle/scooter or sideways like a skateboard, you only get two options.

jqpabc123 · 1d ago
If it doesn't have a touch screen, it probably relies on voice control. Either a watch or glasses.

What other option is there that doesn't require an implant or something?

I expected something like this in cars before now. Lots of cars have an awkward and very limited version of audio controls. This could be expanded into something truly useful.

Toyota: Wipers and Lights On.

Toyota: Navigate to home

Toyota: Volume up

Instead, we get "full self driving" that requires constant supervision --- which is pretty much useless because it takes just as much effort as driving if you follow instructions or puts your life at risk if you don't.

retube · 1d ago
Thanks. I think per the recent interview with Ive and Altman they ruled out glasses, so I guess a watch!
jqpabc123 · 1d ago
Personally, I lean more towards hype than product --- over promise and under deliver; as per usual with most things AI.

A truly spectacular, new, must-have alternative to a phone would have to read your thoughts or something.

duxup · 1d ago
Don’t know what Ive brings other than attention and a little design sense… price to bring just that to the table seems insane.
conartist6 · 1d ago
Hype is the product, not whatever the product is. What OpenAI needs to continue to justify its hugely inflated valuation is a continuing stream of hype, so they paid what it was worth to them based on Ives reputation for building market-making products
keepamovin · 1d ago
Wrap around flexible display visor; audio donut with “Star Wars” hologram for conversational interaction and BT device interconnect
conartist6 · 1d ago
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It doesn't seem like it's anything people would want.

We already know what good tech looks like, it's just that nobody wants to pay to make it anymore. "If it doesn't hoover up incredible amounts of data and/or become obsolete in two years, what would even be the point" is the new-tech thinking. Building what would improve peoples' lives is no longer a serious philosophical concern. Tech that distributes wealth? So yesterday. Tech that centralizes wealth while spreading poverty: now THAT'S modern.

JohnFen · 1d ago
I think it's something like Humane's AI pin, but larger.
reify · 1d ago
Some sort of forearm belt/band/strap

with a heads-up interactive Hologram.

colesantiago · 1d ago
They are going to save humanity, we need to be saved.

https://archive.ph/uTSJM