Former top Apple designer Jony Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are recruiting a senior member of Apple Inc. to participate in a new artificial intelligence hardware project aimed at creating devices with the latest features.
According to insiders, Tang Tan, the outgoing Vice President of Product Design at Apple, will be invited to join LoveFrom, a design company owned by former Chief Design Officer Ive, to participate in new artificial intelligence hardware projects and design the appearance and functionality of new products. As a representative figure of artificial intelligence, Ultraman plans to provide software foundations.
This job is one of Ive's most ambitious efforts since leaving Apple in 2019 and creating LoveFrom. He is the main designer and conceptual inventor of many Apple products, including Macbook Pro, iMac, MacBook Air, iPod, iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad, and has participated in explaining Apple products multiple times.
According to insiders, he hopes to transform his AI hardware equipment business into a new company, but product development is still in its early stages. So far, efforts have been focused on recruiting talent and building concepts.
According to insiders, Tan will be responsible for the hardware engineering of the project while working at LoveFrom. According to previous media reports, this executive will step down as Vice President of iPhone and Watch Product Design at Apple. He is expected to resign in February, but his responsibilities have already been shared in advance this month.
Apple is facing a significant loss of talent
For Apple, Tan's departure highlights a significant loss of design talent. Since 2019, about 14 members of the Apple team led by Ive have left. Among the designers who once reported to Ive, only about six remain at Apple.
Earlier this year, Ive's successor Evans Hankey also resigned, having only served at Apple for a few years. The loss of talent has left the company without obvious candidates to replace her. Apple did not appoint a new executive to lead the design, but instead allowed Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams to directly manage the company's designers.
At the same time, LoveFrom has gathered a group of well-known customers, including Airbnb Inc., Ferrari, and Moncler SpA. The company also signed a three-year agreement with Apple to continue providing consulting services, but the collaboration ended in 2022. So far, more than 20 former Apple employees have joined this design company.
The wave of resignations at Apple has been continuing recently. One of Apple's most important user interface design leaders, Patrick Coffman, has resigned. Colin Burns, the design director who joined Apple after Ive's resignation, will leave in January next year. He manages Apple's interaction architecture team, responsible for exploring early hardware and software concepts.