OpenAI has created waves by acquiring former Apple designer Jony Ive’s startup for $6.5 billion, but not everyone is convinced it’s a good financial decision.
US AI and crypto czar and host of the All-in podcast David Sacks has wondered if the $6.5 billion acquisition of a company — with just 55 employees and no big products was worth it. He even hinted that Jony Ive was hyped up by the media, and wasn’t as responsible for Apple’s success as many people assumed.
“Is Jony Ive just a media creation?” Sacks semi-jokingly said
on the All-in podcast. “I mean, seriously. I know he did good work at Apple — don’t get me wrong. But the software was done by someone else. So he did the beautiful hardware with the beveled edge, to paint a glass with a beveled edge, okay,= great” he added as the other guests laughed.
“He has his beautiful English accent which everyone associated with intelligence, right? So he could describe anything and it’s going to sound amazing. So I don’t know. Maybe he’s parlayed this incredible reputation that he’s built in the media into 2 percent of OpenAI. What a trade,” he exclaimed.
“Look everyone at Apple did amazing work, there’s no question about it. But I don’t get the design god reputation,” he added.
Last week, OpenAI had announced that it was acquiring Jony Ive’s startup for $6.5 billion. The launch video had featured Sam Altman and Jony Ive, and featured some grand pronouncements. Sam Altman had called Jony Ive “the deepest thinker he’d ever known”, and Jony Ive had talked about the massive burden on Altman’s shoulders of leading the AI revolution. The artistically-shot video was scant on details of what exactly the hardware device that OpenAI was building, but did appear to borrow some of Apple’s marketing and branding styles. It remains to be seen whether OpenAI’s hardware device can make a splash similar to Apple’s products, but it appears that there are some public skeptics of the initiative — and its $6.5 billion valuation.