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cailianshe news, september 23 (editor: ma lan)openai ceo altman, former apple design director jony ive and laurene powell jobs, the widow of apple founder steve jobs, are planning to work together to establish an artificial intelligence device startup.

altman and ive were first reported to have been in contact last september, and ive himself confirmed the plan in a profile on saturday.

ive worked at apple for nearly 30 years and started his own company, loveform, in 2019. he was responsible for the design of the imac, ipod, iphone, ipad and apple watch.

ive and altman have reportedly had dinner together several times to discuss how to develop a new computing device centered on artificial intelligence. laurene powell jobs will join the preparation of this startup through her investment and philanthropy company emerson collective.

loveform co-founder marc newson revealed that ive and altman are still exploring the product and its release date. the media broke the news that the startup is expected to raise up to $1 billion in start-up funds by the end of this year.

apple ii?

jobs' former right-hand man and jobs' widow seem to have found new common ground in altman. in previous news, softbank ceo masayoshi son also seems to be quite interested in this artificial intelligence device and has promised to invest $1 billion in it.

the project currently has 10 employees, including tang tan and evans hankey, who were also key figures in ive's design of the iphone. last year, it was rumored that the new device was inspired by touch screen technology and the first generation iphone.

however, altman denied speculation that the new device would be an alternative smartphone, saying that the products under development would not pose a threat to smartphones and he had no interest in competing with smartphones.

that being said, the prospects for artificial intelligence devices are still shrouded in mystery. ai pin, developed by former apple employees imran chaudhri and bethany bongiorno, is arguably one of the most representative products in this field, but last month it was revealed that the number of returns for the product had exceeded the number of purchases.

note: ai pin

ive is still optimistic about the project at hand. in his introduction, he said that his goal is to create a new product that creates a computing experience that will be less disruptive to social interaction than the iphone.