from Hacker News

We broke down the Sam Altman and Jony Ive video

by herbertl on 5/25/25, 10:54 PM with 76 comments

by lolinder on 5/26/25, 12:17 AM
When I think of OpenAI hardware I can't help but think of Akins Laws of Spacecraft Design [0]:
> 39. Any exploration program which "just happens" to include a new launch vehicle is, de facto, a launch vehicle program.
Having a Jony Ive project on the side isn't going to do squat for OpenAI—if they're going to go into consumer hardware that's going to need to be an all-consuming strategic pivot, which their other moves suggest they're not doing. They're currently in spaghetti at the wall mode with Jony Ive as just one bet among many, which is a very bad way to approach a new piece of consumer hardware that's meant to compete with Apple.
[0] https://spacecraft.ssl.umd.edu/akins_laws.html
by rl3 on 5/25/25, 11:14 PM
>0:25: A brief glimpse of Altman’s shoes, which we’ve identified as the LEGO x Adidas UltraBoost DNA, is seen as he walks through the Financial District.
Reminds me of this:
https://x.com/sama/status/1791183356274921568
Funny his shoes in the Jony Ive video share a similar aesthetic to the very Google stage he was calling out. It gets better when you consider Google's only recently begun starting to kick OpenAI's ass, and all without fake-ass coffee shop extras.
The lengths people go to try to appear "real" never ceases to amuse. Surely there's a formal term for this? Perhaps the Zuckerberg effect.
by furyofantares on 5/26/25, 1:29 AM
This whole thing is reminiscent of "IT" to me, when the story about this encounter was going around
> Kamen showed it to Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos and John Doerr. Bezos reportedly made his "loud, honking laugh" of appreciation. Jobs said it would cause people to re-architect cities and compared its importance to the PC. Doerr likened IT in magnitude to the Internet and then invested in it.
But there were zero public details about what "IT" was. (IT was the Segway.)
https://www.forbes.com/2001/01/18/0118malone.html
Speaking of Steve Jobs, I think the reason the "sam and jony" page looks like a wedding announcement crossed with an Apple advertising -- down to the url https://openai.com/sam-and-jony (which you should visit if the only thing youve seen is the 'how we met' video TFA is breaking down) -- is because it's trying to frame Sam as Jony's new Steve Jobs.
by danpalmer on 5/25/25, 11:38 PM
> 3:23: Altman: “Jony recently gave me one of the prototypes ... and I think it is the coolest piece of technology that the world will have ever seen.”
> We have more than five minutes left. Spoiler alert: That’s the only detail about the device that’s in the entire video. —KT
There's a lot of hype building going on for very little detail. Similar feeling to the Humane teaser videos from a year or two before they launched.
by threeseed on 5/25/25, 11:33 PM
OpenAI is becoming like Tesla.
Their first mover advantage is gone, they are unable to innovate on their core product and everything that is said or done is hyped to the extreme.
And now trying to move into adjacent categories where there is no clear problem to be solved and is putting them up against the biggest players in the industry.
by cjbgkagh on 5/26/25, 1:39 AM
Perhaps someone with a better memory can correct me, but wasn’t ios7 the first iPhone interface where Jony Ive had free range and it was really bad?
by dustbunny on 5/26/25, 1:23 AM
This was the kind of video that would be appropriate as a retrospective on their career together after it's happened. Not appropriate before they've even done anything.
by geor9e on 5/26/25, 4:33 AM
They don't mention that Jony walks from Pac Heights, and instead of going directly to North Beach, he must have climbed to the top of Coit Tower's hill to access that particular staircase down to Jackson Square, then has to walk the long way around Telegraph Hill right past the cafe to climb uphill into Chinatown for another walking shot, then backtracks to the cafe. Another small irony is Jony was heading toward Lombard at the start, so if he walked a straight line to Coit, he would have walked right past Sam's driveway.
by prepend on 5/26/25, 2:00 AM
The Sam/Jony video reminds me of a friend who tells you how they are going on a diet. How much they spent on diet foods and supplements. And the details of all their exercise plans. And how great it will feel to be 50 pounds lighter.
It gives them the dopamine rush and adulation of the audience.
by gyomu on 5/26/25, 1:40 AM
The most disappointing thing about Jony as a designer is how nouveau-riche he is.
Since he left Apple, he’s been designing for Ferrari, King Charles, $2500 jackets, etc.
It feels quite at odds with Jobs’ original visions of products that were beautifully designed, but still remained generally affordable for students, teachers, small business owners, and Mr/Mrs Everybody in general.
Of all his tendencies that Jobs supposedly kept in check, I think that’s the most underdiscussed one. I guess the writing was on the wall with the $10k gold Apple Watch.
by ChrisArchitect on 5/26/25, 2:10 AM
More discussion about the video and all of this:
OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44053518
by xt00 on 5/26/25, 1:00 AM
The fact that Sam says he would open his laptop to ask Chatgpt something is almost like he is trying to avoid saying he would use his phone.
The reality is that we likely don't need any new devices as much as people want to keep saying that. If you have airpods and a phone you could talk to chatgpt and say "show me how to fix my kid's bike with a simple video on my phone" -- it buzzes your phone and boom the video is there. Sure it is missing the ability to take a picture of the world / video -- so in that case, a pair of the meta rayban glasses would do that -- again just use your phone / cloud, it all works. Or skip the special glasses and hold your phone up to the thing you want to take a picture of. No need for magical new devices.
Having a camera staring at me while I talk to somebody -- yea I'm gonna pass on that.
by roxolotl on 5/26/25, 12:08 AM
I wish I understood how people are convinced by these sorts of displays. Assuming every word is 100% true I’d still never buy what’s being sold. Sam Altman acts like billion dollar used car salesman. Somehow many, most?, people find this compelling and convincing. I just find it repulsive.
And I appreciate that I am as easy to sell to if the thing I find trusting is being used. It just blows my mind that this is what seems to work the best.
by IAmGraydon on 5/26/25, 3:43 AM
I get the feeling that Altman is aware that OpenAI has lost the race and has thus relegated to treating it like a pure grift until the wheels fall off.
by neilv on 5/26/25, 12:11 AM
This piece is a long way to say that there is no useful information in the video.
The only useful information is that they decided to make this video.
The piece mostly engages in frivolous crit of unimportant execution details of the content-free video.