OpenAI, Jony Ive in talks to raise $1 billion from SoftBank for AI device venture, Financial Times reports

Sept 28 (Reuters) - ChatGPT maker OpenAI is in advanced talks with former Apple designer Jony Ive and SoftBank's (9984.T), opens new tab Masayoshi Son to build the "iPhone of artificial intelligence", fuelled by more than $1 billion in funding from the Japanese conglomerate, the Financial Times reported, opens new tab on Thursday.

Sam Altman, OpenAI's chief, has tapped Ive’s company LoveFrom to develop the ChatGPT creator’s first consumer device, the report said.

Discussions are said to be “serious” but no deal has been agreed on, and it could be several months before a venture is formally announced, the report said, adding that Son, Altman and Ive have discussed creating a company that would draw on talent and technology from their three groups.

SoftBank declined to comment on the FT report. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Ive and LoveFrom could not be reached for comment.

Tech website The Information first reported on Tuesday that Ive and Altman have been discussing building a new AI hardware device and that Softbank's Son has also been involved in some aspects of the conversation.

Ive was a close creative collaborator with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. He spent more than two decades at the tech giant and led the design of the candy-colored iMacs that helped Apple re-emerge from near death in the 1990s as well as the design of the iPhone.

SoftBank has been looking, opens new tab for deals in AI, including a potential investment in OpenAI, after the blockbuster listing of its Arm unit, the FT reported earlier this month, adding that Son was looking to invest tens of billions of dollars in the technology.