Sources: outgoing Apple executive Tang Tan plans to join Jony Ive's LoveFrom to work on AI hardware; Sam Altman plans to provide the software underpinnings
- Design executive Tang Tan is set to leave Apple in February — Tan will join Ive's LoveFrom design studio, work on AI project
It also gives operational shape to the previously reported Ive-Altman discussions about an AI device: LoveFrom would contribute design leadership while Altman is expected to supply the software foundation.
First-order effects
Apple loses Tan from its product-design organization as he transitions to LoveFrom.
LoveFrom adds a former Apple hardware-design executive to an AI hardware effort whose software layer is expected to come from Sam Altman.
Second-order effects
The project can more directly connect industrial design decisions with AI software requirements, raising the bar for any prospective device beyond a design-only concept.
Apple must absorb another leadership transition within its reorganized hardware group while a former executive applies comparable product-design experience elsewhere.
Third-order effects
If leading AI developers and product designers continue to pair up, AI hardware competition will increasingly hinge on teams that can integrate model behavior, interface design, and physical product development.
The relevant moat may shift from access to AI software alone toward scarce hardware-product talent capable of turning AI capabilities into distinct devices; whether this project reaches market remains unproven.
The trend: This is one data point in the race to build AI-native devices by combining frontier software ambitions with consumer-hardware design talent.
I would be lying if I didn't say this is exciting to me. I don't agree with Mr. Ive (and his team)'s design decisions, but he was instrumental in the hardware design of the iMac and iPhone. That's what makes this exciting. “AI” is the next frontier in computing; it shouldn't b…
What an interesting coincidence. This morning, I posted skepticism that AI Pin would be the revolutionary next-gen AI device people were expecting, despite Sam Altman's backing. And now there are reports of Altman teaming up with top talents Jony Ive and Tang Tan to work on dev…
NEW: Apple's iPhone and Watch product design chief is heading to Jony Ive's LoveFrom to run hardware engineering for new AI devices company with OpenAI's Sam Altman. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
OpenAI will evolve, they will do hardware. They understand AI hardware is extremely important to our future. I've been saying this for a while, but OpenAI is the next Apple https://twitter.com/...