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We broke down the Sam Altman and Jony Ive video
- rl3 1y ago>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 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.
- geeunits 1y agoIt's called 'Ego'.
- Frost1x 1y agoImpression management: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impression_management https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impression_management
- inopinatus 1y agoms.inopinatus saw this, her remark: "Disappointed it doesn’t simulate the experience of stepping on a lego brick by accident"
- detourdog 1y agoCan you provide some context such as who ms.inopinatus is adn where they commented.
- prawn 1y agoGiven their username, I assume they are just relaying a comment from their partner.
- LambdaComplex 1y agoAnd the "where" was probably the living room, or perhaps the kitchen
- yread 1y agoIndeed, hopefully they have better things to talk about in the bedroom
- detourdog 1y agoThanks for the guidance. I couldn't figure out what the what. I thought inopinatus was a top level domain. I'm so far out of touch I have never heard of the Lego Adidas shoe partnership.
- inopinatus 1y agoI can confirm that I am indeed a top level domain
- detourdog 1y agoYou should check your DNS as you are currently unroutable. ms.inopinatus sure has some kink.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- threeseed 1y agoOpenAI 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.
- ignoramous 1y ago> ...trying to move into adjacent categories where there is no clear problem to be solved... Smartphones/PCs/wearables, browsers, social media, & IDEs are absolutely important to any company wanting to sell increasingly more capable models that understand our world better with each passing year (provided the scale hypothesis keeps up): For the control over both the hardware and the OS, and for the amount of data that can be fed back to the training set. Google (and to varying extents Microsoft & Meta) can leverage their existing products or distribution advantages. Given the how frosty both their Microsoft & Apple partnership now appears, it seems natural that OpenAI are tempted to pursue consumer devices, browsers (Operator is a start), IDEs (cf Windsurf).
- danpalmer 1y ago> 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.
- detourdog 1y agoI felt that once Jobs was gone and Ives took over the gui of the iPhone that iOS started to degrade.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- throwaway-11-1 1y agoJony literally put the guy from packaging in charge of UI, if you wonder why iOS 7 has such garish colors (white glyphs were unreadable on the green app icon containers etc) its because they're were doing design reviews on paper and the team didn't understand CMYK to RGB. It was like watching a room full of adults learn to ride a bike.
- detourdog 1y agoIt sure felt like that. I studied industrial design. Robert Bruner was the designer that hired Ives. Bruner gave his standard design slideshow to my class. His spiel was that he was into boxology. Which is how he described the process of finding the macintoshes form factor (after Frog Design). I always saw Ives talent in that vein. I have been naming my iPhones since 5 or 6 soap because they are like holding a wet bar of soap. I’m not expecting earth shattering product. I think Ives real talent is in materials and fabrication.
- danpalmer 1y ago> because they're were doing design reviews on paper and the team didn't understand CMYK to RGB Huh. Do you have a reference for this? If this is in a book or something I'm interested to read more about this backstory.
- roxolotl 1y agoI 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.
- strangattractor 1y agoI think Altman needs a sidekick to help make him more likable. He suffers from resting Gloom face.
- monkeyelite 1y agoI think that’s the plan - give open ai a better look and face.
- IncreasePosts 1y agoSam Altman is compelling to people who think accumulating as much money as possible is the point of life
- prawn 1y agoIt's a mystery and mysteries can be exciting. You can become invested in that without thinking you'd buy it. Have they hit on something? Is it probably underwhelming? But what if it's not. They have credibility. But do they? I remember the Segway hype. A lot of it was intriguing because they had comments from heavyweights who in theory know how to assess a major product. But, yes, we know how that played out.
- gyomu 1y agoThese people are 1) unbelievably rich, and 2) their name is everywhere (the latter being easy to achieve if you have the first). For most people, that’s enough to inspire… something.
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- neilv 1y agoThis 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.
- detourdog 1y agoI think the details are really important because it demonstrates the excess amount of money and effort that went into a video of 2 people talking. Why fill the streets with extras? I think the details revealed in the article demonstrates lack of focus and misguided priorities. There was no need for the video.
- fdsafaefew 1y ago[flagged]
- lolinder 1y agoWhen 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 https://spacecraft.ssl.umd.edu/akins_laws.html
- threeseed 1y ago> if they're going to go into consumer hardware that's going to need to be an all-consuming strategic pivot You have to build a phone. There is no other way to get the data you need to make XR glasses, AI pebble, Rabbit etc work the way people expect without it. Because Apple and Google are well within the rights to deny the siphoning of your private data to a company like OpenAI who only exists because of large scale trademark abuse.
- conartist6 1y agoBut aren't they building a necklace?
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- xt00 1y agoThe 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.
- DaSHacka 1y ago> Having a camera staring at me while I talk to somebody -- yea I'm gonna pass on that. My fear is this is a choice you or I can't make; it's up to the whims of others who may choose to use these products. Time has shown again and again that average people don't exactly value their autonomy or privacy when technology's involved, I have no doubt it'd be the same way with literal live-streaming cameras attached to people's faces.
- aaron695 1y ago[dead]
- dustbunny 1y agoThis 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.
- furyofantares 1y agoThis 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 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 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.
- vessenes 1y agoArguably the first vc backed company to use guerilla marketing. (I await counter examples) In segways case, not only was it a little underwhelming compared to the buzz, GW Bush flipped headfirst over it during a demo drive. I imagine that had some moderating impact on launch.
- roryirvine 1y ago"I think IT's a hoverboard!", "no, IT's a jetpack!", "no, IT's a Star Trek transporter!"... The speculation about Altman & Ive's new product rhymes perfectly, so it's fair to expect just as great a disappointment when they finally unveil the reality.
- cjbgkagh 1y agoPerhaps 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?
- detourdog 1y agoThat sounds about right. It was really bad. I don't know that it ever fully recovered.
- gyomu 1y agoThe 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.
- detourdog 1y agoThe thing that disappointed me the most regarding the Apple Watch was the innards couldn't be upgraded. The case and band I thought could be held on to like an heirloom. The digital stuff could have been designed as capsule.
- ethbr1 1y agoThat's the celebrity excess that architecture and industrial design encourage. It's a weird comingling of the field trying to pretend it's more important and cool than it is + rampant imposter syndrome in its superstars. Ergo, they must pretend they're doing Very Important Work and are The Best in the World. ... meanwhile, it's fucking curves on corners. Throw a dart and pick one. The real work is being done by unfamous, tirelessly toiling rank and file in both industries, quietly making the world a better place, bit by bit.
- prepend 1y agoThe 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.
- ChrisArchitect 1y agoMore discussion about the video and all of this: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44053518 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44053518
- IAmGraydon 1y agoI 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.
- senectus1 1y agoayup. also, AI is a race to the bottom... Businesses buy into AI so they can lay off staff -> more an more people have fewer jobs -> those jobless people can no longer afford to buy the goods that the AI replaced humans to do -> the businesses that invested in AI start losing money hand over fist -> (richest people buy into politics to corruptly ensure they stay rich, the unfairly repressed poor {and the young that never get a chance to build a career} rise up in violence) -> economic collapse. At some point AI is used to "control" the uprising. In the end I suspect an almost complete rejection of capitalism. I dont know what will replace it. but this is all going to come to a horrible end
- csomar 1y agoTSLA market cap is currently $1Trillion. Clearly the grift can go for a long time.
- geor9e 1y agoThey 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.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]