OpenAI goes all in with Jony Ive as Google plays AI catchup

Equity

TechCrunch

Founders, Silicon Valley, Finance, Ipo, Vc, Technology, Business News, Startups, Business, Venture Capital, News, Stock Market, Entrepreneurship, Techcrunch

4.2 • 365 Ratings

🗓️ 23 May 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

OpenAI just made its biggest acquisition yet, scooping up Jony Ive and Sam Altman’s secretive device startup, io, in a $6.5 billion all-equity deal. Ive, the legendary designer behind the iPhone and other iconic Apple products, will now lead creative and design work at OpenAI through his firm LoveFrom. The goal? To take AI “beyond the screen” and build a new generation of AI-powered consumer devices. Beyond the tech, there’s a clear narrative play here. OpenAI is framing Altman as the Jobs-esque visionary and Ive as the design genius who makes it all real. Social media had a field day with the staged buddy shots of the duo, but the messaging is hard to miss: Take the iPhone launch, and make it AI. Today, on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Max Zeff, and Anthony Ha unpack the deal, dive into AI wearables, and discuss more of this week’s tech headlines. Listen to the full episode to hear about: Max’s inside scoop from Google I/O: the return of Google Glass and developers’ reactions to Google’s AI-powered search upgrades Luminar drama from layoffs to CEO step downs and the lidar startup’s potential $200 million fundraising effort 23andMe’s second life, and what the company’s new buyer plans to do with users’ DNA data Equity will be back next week, so don’t miss it! Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes here. Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. We’d also like to thank TechCrunch’s audience development team. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll talk to you next time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Affinity, the most trusted CRM for private capital.
0:17.0	So, Anthony, you know how like we are just in a time loop and all that is presented new is
0:24.4	really just what was presented in like the 2010s?
0:28.0	Exactly.
0:29.0	I mean, we're talking specifically about Google Glass, about Sergey Brin who was at Google
0:33.9	I.O. saying made some mistakes with Google Glass, but it's coming back. It's going to
0:38.2	happen this time. Yeah, it's going to happen. And so Google I.O., which we are going to talk about
0:43.4	later, but they have this Android XR smart glasses. And as they were announcing all of these different
0:50.2	features, I just kept going, isn't that what Google Glass was doing in like 2013, 2014?
0:57.6	Did you ever get a pair? I never owned a pair. I've definitely like tried them out, actually.
1:03.0	Drew Olenoff, who is a longtime sort of, you know, boomerang at TechCrunch. I don't actually,
1:08.9	I think he was actually working at TechCrunch at the time.
1:11.5	He even filmed a little video of himself with Google Glass that then like made it onto the Conan O'Brien.
1:15.5	So it was like, it like had a moment like 12-ish, you know, 11, 12 years ago. But it was also just deeply
1:22.7	mockable. I was going to say I'm popular, which it was, but it was also just that, like, if you wore them, like, people made fun of you. That was, like, the big thing. Well, before we get too deep into
1:32.8	Google Glass 2.0, welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch's flagship podcast about the business
1:39.3	of startups. Today is Friday, May 23rd. I'm Kirsten Koresak, transportation editor. And I'm Anthony Ha,
1:46.4	weekend editor. On the show today, we have Deals of the Week on 23 and Me. Does it have a
1:51.9	second life? And Johnny I have an open AI. Cannot wait to talk about that one. And then we're going to
1:56.7	bring Max back on the show to talk about his time at Google I.O. and drama at Luminar. Let's get
2:04.4	into this 23 and me deal, which is an acquisition. It's a second life. I don't know. I don't
2:11.2	know if you think of it as a second life. I sort of do. Well, it is a second life, but in the sense that,
	...

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