OpenAI AI hardware development advanced after the io Products team officially merged with the company, bringing Jony Ive’s designers and engineers into its product programme.
OpenAI confirmed the merger in an update dated July 9, 2025. The company said the io team would work with its research, engineering and product divisions in San Francisco.
The official announcement did not identify the first product as a smart speaker. It also disclosed no final design, technical specifications, price or release date.
OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman and Ive’s design collective, LoveFrom, began collaborating about two years before the announcement. Their work later led Ive to establish io with Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey and Tang Tan.
OpenAI said the io group included hardware and software engineers, physicists, scientists, manufacturing specialists and product-development experts.
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Ive and LoveFrom remain independent despite the IO team’s merger. OpenAI said it had assumed broader design and creative responsibilities across the company.
