Steve Jobs famously said, “Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything.” This was at the launch of the iPhone in 2007. He emphasized that truly revolutionary products often come from the intersection of technology and liberal arts, that is precisely where innovation meets human experience. It reshapes how people interact with technology. Product that permeates into users’ lives. Are we at another such watershed moment of history? If Sam Altman is to be believed, we certainly are.
He has now made the ambitions of OpenAI very clear. Productising ChatGPT is the thought for everyone to understand. Steve Jobs had a product, Sam Altman is in search of creating one. No one knows the contours inclusive of Altman. “But when you promise the world a revolutionary new product, it helps to have actually built one.” What is the problem statement? Sam Altman is done with keyboards and screens. Legacy systems if we go by his thinking. All the effort of swiping, and typing and scrolling– too much potential friction between you and ChatGPT.
OpenAI seems to have decided to solve this apparent problem and is partnering with Jony Ive, the longtime head of design at Apple, the most famous product being the iPhone. What do they want to develop / create? It is hardware built specifically for AI software. His dream is to provide access to a “team of geniuses” – presumably, ChatGPT type assistants – on a “family of devices.” The firm will pay roughly $5 billion to acquire Io, Ive’s startup as he takes on “deep design and creative responsibilities” across OpenAI. OpenAI moving into hardware would be technologically most disruptive and its financially lucrative expansion to date.
Phones and computers have to be dispensed. ChatGPT on an OpenAI device. Sam believes that the current devices offer only clunky ways to use AI products. It is natural to think beyond the legacy devices. Lots of such ambitious devices have failed in the past, like wearable pins and sunglasses. Ive called the early AI gadgets “very poor products.” Moving forward, if any pair has a shot at designing a legitimately useful AI device it has to be the man who unleashed ChatGPT partnering with someone who led the design of Apple smartphones, tablets and laptops.
THE AI WORLD HAS TO OFFER WAY BEYOND WHAT WE CAN EVEN IMAGINE OF!
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.