The New York Times took time out of its busy schedule of writing press releases for Apple to chat with Ive and discovered that he met OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for dinner last year after an introduction from Airbnb chief Brian Chesky. Over multiple meals, including cheese and biscuits, the pair hatched a plan to create a new computing device powered by generative AI. The core idea is that AI's rapidly advancing capabilities enable new frontiers for interacting with computers and software.

According to the report, the duo discussed how generative AI has "made it possible to create a new computing device because the technology could do more for users than traditional software, such as summarise and prioritise messages, identify and name objects like plants, and eventually field complex requests like booking travel."

This is not new, but then again, neither was the iPhone—something similar was dubbed the Rabbit R1, which was released earlier this year and said to have been trained on thousands of interfaces to help automate processes like booking flights, tickets to movies, and even calling an Uber. The device never took off, just like the Humane Ai Pin it aimed to one-up.

Ive and Altman's venture managed to attract key talent; the current team of 10 employees includes Tang Tan and Evans Hankey, two former Apple design leaders who worked closely with Ive on blockbusters like the original iPhone. The report says Ive's firm, LoveFrom, is spearheading the product's design.

However, the fact that all these people come from Apple only means something in the minds of the Tame Apple Press. The Humane Ai Pin was also designed and launched by ex-Apple employees, and it went tits up.

In February, Ive and his team dropped a cool $60 million on a 32,000-square-foot building called the Little Fox Theater in San Francisco. The team was also spotted schlepping in chairs and boxes with the "earliest ideas" for the product were seen carried around.

Bankrolling this ambitious undertaking is no small feat, either. It's claimed that Ive and Laurene Powell Jobs' Emerson Collective have already invested, and plans are to raise up to $1 billion more from investors by year's end.