It’s been a long time since Jony Ive left Apple to found his own design firm, but his work in technology will never be forgotten. Last weekend, Ive talked to the BBC’s Desert Island Discs about his experience working on big projects at Apple and remembered his relationship with Steve Jobs.
Jony Ive still thinks about Jobs and is excited about new project with OpenAI
According to Ive, it’s hard not to think “what Steve would do” even though Jobs himself told the designer that he shouldn’t do it. “And every time I think, ‘I wonder what Steve would do?’ I think, ‘Ha! I’m doing exactly what you didn’t want,’ Ive said. “It was remarkable that, despite the limitations of my ability to communicate, Steve understood what I thought and how I felt,” he added.
When it comes to the Mac, Ive mentions his feeling when he used a Macintosh for the first time. “I was shocked that I had a sense of the people that made it.” In the interview, he also talks about what it was like designing the first iMac together with Steve Jobs and how its translucent design was more important to customers than specifications.
The renowned designer also shared how he feels knowing that he revolutionized the world with the iPhone, also one of his creations.
The nature of innovation is there will be unpredicted consequences, and I celebrate and am encouraged by the very positive contribution, the empowerment, the liberty that is provided to so many people in so many ways. Just because the not-so-positive consequences weren’t intended, that doesn’t matter relative to how I feel responsible and is a contributor to decisions that I have made since and decisions that I’m making in the future… You need a very particular resolve and discipline not to be drawn in and seduced… but we’ve [Ive’s family] worked very hard to recognizing [sic] just the power of these tools [and] to use them I think responsibly and carefully and like everybody I find that difficult.
When asked about AI, Ive said that people need “time to understand and react.” Ive confirmed last year that he’s been working on a new AI device project with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. He didn’t reveal details about the project in the interview, but said that it’s the first time in his career that he feels ”inspired by capability in this way.”
Ive left Apple in 2019 after working at the company for more than 20 years. He now works at LoveFrom, his own design firm, which has already partnered with brands such as Airbnb, Moncler, and even Ferrari. Ive’s firm had signed a consultancy contract with Apple, but it ended in 2022.
You can listen to the full interview on the BBC website (via The Guardian an MacStories).
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