“I stand there, holding a model of the iMac,” recalls Jony IVe around 1997 when he met Laurene Powell Jobs at the door of her house next to Steve Jobs. It was the beginning of a relationship This is now 28 years later, he gives what to talk about again.
Openai paid $ 6,400 million last month for IO, the secretup secretup of Jonathan Ive. But there is something that many have neglected: Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Steve Jobs, was one of the first investors of the project when no one knew that he existed. And now, in a joint interview with the Financial Times, he revealed that He does not want Jony Ive's device to become another iPhone. Not for sales or success, but for something much deeper.
When creators criticize their work
The joint interview that Laurene Powell Jobs and Jony Ive have just given financial times is, in fact, a confession. Taking this into accountThe MBOs were next to the creator of the iPhoneThese are still statements, at least, striking.
Now we know, unequivocally, that there are dark uses for certain types of technology. You can only look at the studies that take place on adolescents and anxiety among young people, and the increase in mental health needs, to understand that we left on the side. Admittedly, technology was not designed to have this result. But it is the lateral result.
Jony Ive adds: “Although less positive consequences have been involuntary, I always feel the responsibility.” These are powerful declarations, and perhaps more focused on This guilt they feel. But they cannot forget that, without the iPhone, the jobs of Laurene Powell would not have the $ 11.4 billion which allows them to make these investments. Both in the IVE company and other humanitarian aid projects.
It is true that even Apple shareholders have warned the negative impact of smartphones on mental health. But it is also true that these devices have democratized access to information, saved lives via medical applications and They connected millions of people During the pandemics … and these are only a few examples, because we could also talk about the number of jobs that the iPhone has brought and everything that has changed the world: distributors, electronic commerce, etc.
A collaboration based on decades of trust and friendship
“If it was not for Laurene, there would be no love,” explains Jony Ive. When Apple left in 2019, she was the first to support him economically. “I have the impression that we grew up together,” explains IVE about her relationship with Laurene Powell Jobs. “We have gone through difficult and happy things … family and children and work.”
This proximity between Powell Jobs and IVE is not new. It was present during the development of the iPhoneHe saw the “night conversations” between Steve and Jony. His experience in collaboration with IVE was “that of a friendly and trustworthy friend, but also as a new ideas admiring”. He saw “in real time how ideas go from a thought to certain words to certain drawings, to certain stories, then to prototypes”.
Jonathan Ive Con Sam Altman y Laurene Powell Jobs
“Seeing just how something completely new manifests, it is something wonderful to contemplate,” he said. But this time, he knows what is at stake and does not want to repeat errors.
A perfect story to sell your AI?
For Jony Ive, working with Openai “has revived my optimism in technology”, an optimism that I had lost. In fact, he emerged from there his exit from Apple. But, just when Openai and Jonathan Ive are preparing to launch an AI device, they position themselves as the repentant of the iPhone who now wants to do things. “Humanity deserves something better”Said IVE on his new project with OpenAI.
“Many of us would say that we have an awkward relationship with technology at the moment.” That's why His new project with Openai is looking for something radically different. The rumors indicate a device without screen, similar to an iPod shuffle which is hung on the neck. As Openai said, we will know him in 2026.
Concept of the device in which Openai and Jony Ive work by bengeskin
The dilemma of bets on Apple
Laurene Powell Jobs has invested millions in a project that could potentially compete with the apple. With a fortune of $ 11.4 billion, this bet can be authorized. But when he asked him on this subject, his answer reveals his true motivations:
I am always very close to the Apple management team. They are very good people and I want them to succeed.
It is not hypocrisy. He is someone who wants technology to really serve people, no matter who does it. As Powell Jobs says, we are in “the era of the unknown”. The AI ”will transform the way we live, work, we line, communicate. It is not clear in which direction the world is directed“.
And in these last words is the key to everything. Not even themwho directs this revolution, sThey have really reduced where we are going. Artificial intelligence can be a transformation as large as that of the iPhone. You will change jobs, create new ones, destroy the others. This is something enormous, what we are just starting to admire the consequences.
Right away, Jony and Laurene are in their most optimistic phase. First, for commercial interest: they need their project to succeed. Second, because they really create something innovative with the main company of AI. The thing looks good.
But there is something curious about it: all of the above was very bad, now it's very good. But shouldn't be measured in the same way? If we think of the negative effects of AI, there will be many people who will not want to know anything. And others who will like it, as happened with the iPhone. Because, like everything in life, it has its positive part and its negative part.
It is like wanting to ban social networks for certain negative comments: it would make no sense. We are more connected than ever, with access to constant information. Just like trying to stop AI for a disinformation you can give.
Yeah, It is fantastic that they learned all this and be aware consequences. But even less the iPhone is as bad as they paint it, or its product will surely be as revolutionary as, for the moment, they make us think. To do this, We will have to wait until 2026 to meet him. Time will say if you have really learned from the past or if we simply witness the next chapter in the same story, with different actors.
Source | Financial time
In Applesfera | New folding iPhone – Everything we think to know about him
In Applesfera | New iOS 19 / iOS 26 – Everything we think about the new iPhone operating system
Table of Contents
