In May, OpenAI announced the acquisition of Jony Ive"s design startup in a $6.5 billion all-stock deal. As part of the agreement, Apple"s legendary designer joined OpenAI to develop a new line of mysterious AI-powered devices. The move signals that OpenAI is serious about entering the hardware market, with the hire of Apple"s former design chief marking its first major step.
The Information reports that OpenAI is ramping up its efforts in the hardware segment by poaching even more talent from Apple. The AI company reportedly offers stock packages valued at over $1 million, in addition to other perks such as less bureaucracy, stronger collaboration, and the possibility of working on bigger projects.
However, the interest has apparently not been one-sided, as OpenAI has seen an influx of Apple employees independently reaching out to explore job opportunities. These employees are reportedly drawn by the opportunity to work with Jony Ive on OpenAI"s ambitious AI hardware initiatives, and are tired of "incremental changes" to Apple products.
So far, OpenAI has been quite successful at poaching some of Apple"s best talent in the hardware departments. Tang Tan, Apple"s product design chief, joined the ChatGPT maker along with Jony Ive. Tan worked at Apple for around 25 years and had a pivotal role in developing products such as the iPhone.
Cyrus Daniel Irani, director of human interface design at Apple, and Erik de Jong, the lead designer of the Apple Watch team, are other talents who joined OpenAI.
Apple is reportedly aware of the talent drain to OpenAI and even canceled its annual offsite in China to keep employees away from OpenAI.
But OpenAI hasn"t confined its recruitment efforts to Apple"s top talent and even went after the iPhone maker"s supply chain partners in China. The AI company is allegedly working on products such as smart speakers without a screen, glasses, a digital voice recorder, and a wearable pin.
Luxshare and Goertek, two of Apple"s Chinese suppliers, have reportedly been tasked with producing OpenAI"s hardware. These companies are well-known for assembling Apple products such as the iPhone, AirPods, Apple Watch, and HomePod.