OpenAI’s $6.4 billion purchase of Jony Ive’s io project just shows how badly they want to compete with Apple and Google in hardware.
Image generated by Chatgpt
Yep, they're trying to make their own device designed by a famous Apple designer and hoping this new hardware will help them become a top player in AI technology for people. Right now Google and Apple are winning because they control both the software and the devices we use everyday, but OpenAI, even with all its money is far behind in actually getting real products into people’s hands.
Which brings us to the real issue.
OpenAI has always been software with their ChatGPT chatbot. It's everywhere but you need a phone or computer to use it. That means OpenAI is always depending on other companies’ platforms, so by buying io, the company wants to build something you can actually hold.
A device and not just an app.
The main problem is making and selling hardware is much harder than it looks. Apple has done this for decades, and Google’s Android is on billions of phones for years. OpenAI has never made a single gadget yet.
So for them to do that it wouldn't be just competition, it’s control. I want to trust and own the devices I use, not just rent them. If OpenAI copies Apple’s closed system, I do not see why anyone would pick their device over Apple’s or Google’s. The only reasonable path that makes sense to me is openness.
OpenAI could be different by letting people change, build on, and understand their own devices.
The open-source community already does more with less money so why shouldn’t we have hardware that is truly ours?
