United Kingdom, May 22 -- Former Apple designer Sir Jony Ive is joining OpenAI.

Sam Altman, the CEO of the artificial intelligence research organisation, OpenAI, is "thrilled" to be "partnering" with the 58-year-old "greatest designer in the world", who was responsible for creating the iconic look of Apple's iPhone, iPad, iMac and iPod devices.

OpenAI has purchased Jony's AI hardware startup firm, io, in a $6.5 billion deal.

And the hope now is the two firms will "try to create a new generation of AI-powered computers".

OpenAI and io's partnership comes as Jony and the creative collective LoveFrom collaborated with Sam, 40, and the OpenAI team in 2023.

Jony said: "I have a growing sense that everything I have learned over the last 30...