OpenAI and ex-Apple iPhone designer Jony Ive deal hit by a trademark dispute

OpenAI has taken down details about IO — the hardware collaboration it made with ex-Apple iPhone designer Jony Ive — over a trademark dispute. The website now states that a complaint was filed by IYO Inc., an AI firm that makes wearables.
The webpage that carried the announcement along with a video of OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman and Jony Ive has been removed. It now shows a notice that, 'This page is temporarily down due to a court order following a trademark complaint from IYO about our use of the name 'IO.' We don't agree with the complaint and are reviewing our options.'
Mr. Altman's firm, per a report by The Verge, has confirmed that though the mentions are taken down, the deal is still in place.
IYO was incubated as a part of Alphabet X 'moonshot factory' and was eventually spun off in 2021. Alphabet is IYO's first investor, and the startup is working on an AI-powered earbuds.
In May, OpenAI acquired Jony Ive's IO for $6.5 billion and said the duo will be working together to develop AI consumer devices.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Mint

28 minutes ago

• Mint

Siddharth Pai: Meta is going all GPUs blazing to win the ‘superintelligence' race

Next Story Siddharth Pai Mark Zuckerberg is doing all he can to leapfrog Generative AI and develop machines that can 'think'. The challenge is of another order of magnitude, but the resources he's pouring into it means he's in the race alright. Zuckerberg is personally setting the pace, scouting for top minds and restructuring teams to align with his lofty ambition. Gift this article Meta's audacious pivot towards what it calls 'superintelligence' marks more than a renewal of its AI ambitions; it signals a philosophical recalibration. A few days ago, Meta unveiled a nearly $15 billion campaign to chase a future beyond conventional AI—an initiative that has seen the recruitment of Scale AI's prodigy founder Alexandr Wang and the launch of a dedicated 'superintelligence' lab under the CEO's own gaze ( Meta's audacious pivot towards what it calls 'superintelligence' marks more than a renewal of its AI ambitions; it signals a philosophical recalibration. A few days ago, Meta unveiled a nearly $15 billion campaign to chase a future beyond conventional AI—an initiative that has seen the recruitment of Scale AI's prodigy founder Alexandr Wang and the launch of a dedicated 'superintelligence' lab under the CEO's own gaze ( This is not merely an attempt to catch up; it is a strategic gambit to leapfrog competitors like OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Anthropic and xAI. Currently, Meta's AI offerings, its Llama family, primarily reside within the predictive and Generative AI paradigm. These systems excel at forecasting text sequences or generating images and dialogue, but they lack the structural scaffolding required for reasoning, planning and understanding the physical world. Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun has been eloquent on this front, arguing in a 2024 Financial Times interview that large language models, while powerful, are fundamentally constrained—they grasp patterns but not underlying logic, memory or causal inference ( For LeCun and his team, superintelligence denotes AI that transcends such limitations and is capable of building internal world models and achieving reasoning comparable to—or exceeding—human cognition. This definition distances itself sharply from today's predictive AI, which statistically extrapolates from patterns, as well as GenAI, which crafts plausible outputs, such as text or images. Superintelligence, by contrast, aspires for general-purpose cognitive ability. Unsiloed and flexible, it will be able to plan hierarchically and form persistent internal representations. It is not alone in this quest. Ilya Sutskever, the former chief scientist at OpenAI who believes powerful AI could harm humanity, has co-founded Safe Superintelligence. It has no plans to release products but its stated mission is to build superintelligence and release the technology once it has been proven to be completely safe ( Also Read: Brave Chinese voices have begun to question the hype around AI Meta has established a cadre of roughly 50 elite researchers, luring them with huge compensation packages, to work with Scale AI to create a vertically integrated stack of data labelling, model alignment and deployment. Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg's combative leadership style—marked by intense micromanagement and 24/7 messaging—hints at both the urgency and stakes. In comparison with rivals, Meta lags on the AI developmental curve. Its Llama-4 release has faced delays and scrutiny, while its competitors have sped ahead—OpenAI moved quickly to GPT-4 and Google countered it with Gemini-based multimodal agents. Nevertheless, Meta brings distinctive assets to the table: its social graph, an enormous user base, its sprawling compute resources, which include hundreds of thousands of Nvidia H100 GPUs, and a renewed impetus underpinned by its Scale AI partnership. Yet, beyond the material strength of its stack lies the more profound question: Can Meta, with its social media heritage, really deliver on superintelligence? LeCun muses that a decade may pass before systems capable of hierarchical reasoning, sustained memory and world modelling come to fruition ( Meta's pursuit is an investment in a bold vision as much as engineering muscle. Also Read: Artificial general intelligence could reboot India's prospects The differences between predictive, generative and superintelligent systems are consequential. An AI tool that merely predicts or synthesizes text operates within a bounded comfort zone, finding patterns, optimizing loss and generating output. However, a superintelligent AI must contend with the open-ended unpredictability of real-world tasks—reasoning across contexts, planning with foresight and adapting to novel situations. It requires an architecture qualitatively different from pattern matching. In this sense, Meta is not joining the arms race to outdo competitors in generative benchmarks. Instead, it aims to leapfrog that race for a big stake in a future where AI systems begin to think, plan, learn and remember far better. The risk is high: billions of dollars are invested, talent battles are underway and there is no guarantee that such advancements will fully materialize. Critics note that AI today fails at some straightforward tasks that any competent Class 10 school student would pass with ease. But Meta views this as a strategic inflection point. Zuckerberg is personally setting the pace, scouting for top minds and restructuring teams to align with his lofty ambition. If Meta can transition from crafting better chatbots to instilling AI with coherent, persistent models of the world, it just might recalibrate the AI hierarchy entirely ( Whether this would mark Meta's renaissance remains to be seen. Yet, the narrative shift is unmistakable. Where once Meta chased after generative prowess, it now envisions cognitive machines that supposedly actually 'think.' The challenge lies not only in engineering capability, but in philosophical restraint. Superintelligent systems demand new ethics, not just new math. If Meta achieves its goal, it will not merely change AI—it will redefine our expectations of intelligence itself. In this quest, the company must navigate both technical intricacies and the social repercussions of creating minds that learn, adapt and may surpass us. Whether such minds can be safely steered is a question that no GPU cluster can answer definitively. The author is co-founder of Siana Capital, a venture fund manager. Topics You May Be Interested In Catch all the Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.

NDTV

2 hours ago

• NDTV

India Set To Outpace G7 Economies In Growth: Report

New Delhi: Global capital can no longer overlook India's structural economic advantages, as the nation is poised to significantly outpace G7 economies in growth, according to a report released on Monday by wealth management firm Equirus. The report identifies strong macro fundamentals, policy-led capital expenditure, a resurgence in rural consumption, and structural manufacturing shifts as key long-term drivers of India's growth in an uncertain global environment. "India is no longer the world's fastest-growing economy just on paper -- it is structurally better positioned than most G7 nations. That's a seismic shift," said Mitesh Shah, CEO, Equirus Credence Family Office. "The global macro regime is shifting. US growth has been revised down sharply, and while India is projected to contribute over 15 per cent to global GDP growth (2025-2030), traditional 60/40 portfolios are breaking down. In this new regime, strategic asset allocation across geographies and growth cycles isn't optional -- it's the alpha generator," he added. India is benefiting from structural trends: rural FMCG demand outpacing urban (6 per cent vs 2.8 per cent), policy-led capex rising 17.4 per cent, and Rs 2.5 lakh crore liquidity infusion underway, the report states. India's contribution to global GDP growth is significantly outpacing Japan (less than 1 per cent) and Germany (just over 1.3 per cent), the report points out. The report highlights that rural consumption is driving the recovery in the Indian economy. FMCG demand in rural India grew 6 per cent, outstripping urban markets at 2.8 per cent. The monthly per capita expenditure gap between rural and urban households has narrowed from 84 per cent to 70 per cent over the last decade. The report challenges the viability of the long-standing 60/40 portfolio strategy, historically seen as the gold standard for diversified investing. In today's volatile and fragmented global regime, strategic asset allocation is no longer optional -- it is essential for capital preservation and alpha generation, the report states. The report urges investors to adopt a more dynamic and forward-looking asset allocation approach -- one that spans geographies, sectors, and growth cycles. With India emerging as a structural outperformer, the firm sees the country's multi-engine growth -- driven by rural consumption, capex, and supply chain shifts -- as a compelling opportunity for both capital preservation and long-term alpha generation. The report also highlights global factors reinforcing India's advantage. The Dollar Index (DXY) has declined approximately 6 per cent from its 2025 peak, and crude oil remains stable at $70/barrel, easing India's import bill pressure. It further states that while the 'China +1' narrative is evolving, concrete shifts are emerging. As multinational firms like Apple diversify away from China, shifting iPhone production to India benefits from cost efficiencies, lower attrition, and geopolitical alignment. The report also sees a government policy-led capex boom boosting India's growth. Central plus state capital expenditure is set to jump 17.4 per cent post-election, backed by a Rs 2.5 lakh crore liquidity infusion via phased CRR cuts, the report added.

Business Standard

2 hours ago

• Business Standard

Apple eyes Perplexity acquisition? What's at stake for Google, Samsung

Apple is reportedly exploring a potential acquisition of Perplexity AI, the US-based AI start-up. According to a recent Bloomberg report, Apple executives, including mergers and acquisitions head Adrian Perica, services chief Eddy Cue, and key decision-makers in AI, have held internal discussions about making a bid for the company. While there has been no confirmation from Apple, Perplexity told Bloomberg, 'We have no knowledge of any current or future M&A discussions involving Perplexity.' If Apple proceeds, the deal could give it a much-needed boost in AI talent, an established brand in the generative AI space, and a consumer-facing product. However, ongoing deals between Perplexity and other tech companies, notably Samsung and Motorola, could complicate the process. Bloomberg also reported that Meta attempted to buy Perplexity earlier this year. Here's a breakdown of what an Apple-Perplexity deal could mean for the companies involved: What Apple stands to gain from the Perplexity AI acquisition? A Perplexity acquisition would support Apple's efforts to develop its own AI-based search engine, a strategic move amid growing uncertainty around its lucrative deal with Google. Bloomberg reported that Apple currently earns an estimated $20 billion a year by making Google the default search engine in Safari, but that agreement is under scrutiny from US antitrust regulators. The potential acquisition also reflects Apple's wider push to catch up in the generative AI race. Despite unveiling its Apple Intelligence platform at WWDC 2024, the company remains behind competitors in core features. Siri's planned upgrade was even delayed earlier this year, with a revised rollout now targeted for next spring. By bringing Perplexity in-house, Apple would not only gain a robust AI product but also absorb a skilled team already working at the forefront of AI-powered search. The acquisition could further accelerate the development of next-gen Apple Intelligence capabilities. Samsung and Motorola partnerships at risk? Bloomberg previously reported that Samsung Electronics is close to finalising a major partnership with Perplexity. This would include preloading Perplexity's assistant and app onto Samsung devices and integrating its search technology into Samsung's native web browser. Talks have also involved incorporating Perplexity into Samsung's own voice assistant, Bixby. Samsung is reportedly aiming to announce these integrations as early as this year, potentially making Perplexity a default assistant option on its upcoming Galaxy S26 series. The South Korean giant is also expected to be a major participant in Perplexity's next funding round. Motorola already has an active partnership with Perplexity. On select Motorola smartphones, including the Edge 60 Pro, users can choose between Perplexity AI, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot as their default assistant. While there is no indication yet that these partnerships are under threat, they could present a hurdle if Apple moves ahead with an acquisition. Bloomberg also noted that Apple is weighing an alternative: partnering with Perplexity rather than acquiring it outright. Such a deal would involve integrating Perplexity's AI search into Safari and possibly into Siri as an additional intelligence layer. What Apple Perplexity AI Deal could mean for Google An Apple-Perplexity alliance, whether through acquisition or partnership, would be a clear challenge to Google's dominance on iOS devices. For now, Google Search remains the default on Safari, but a Perplexity-powered alternative could alter the balance of power, particularly if antitrust regulators force changes to the current arrangement. Separately, Perplexity's growing relationship with Samsung is another potential concern for Google. Although Google's Gemini AI is already integrated into Samsung's Galaxy devices, including being set as the default assistant, Samsung's collaboration with Perplexity suggests a shift toward diversifying its AI offerings. If Samsung deepens its partnership with Perplexity, it could mark a strategic move away from sole reliance on Google and toward supporting a broader AI ecosystem.