The leaders of OpenAI and Google have been living rent-free in each other’s heads since ChatGPT caught the world by storm. Heading into this week’s I/O, Googlers were on edge about whether Sam Altman would try to upstage their show like last year, when OpenAI held an event the day before to showcase ChatGPT’s advanced voice mode.

Even after an uncommonly eventful week for generative AI-centric device development, we don’t know much about what consumers really want.

Microsoft Build, Google I/O, Dell Tech World, Red Hat Summit and even Computex. OpenAI isn’t slowing down either, buying io, Jony Ives’ secretive AI startup, for $6.5 billion in stock. Will Ives create the AI-powered products at OpenAI that he couldn’t at Apple?

Altman and Ive announced OpenAI’s acquisition of Ive’s io in a statement Wednesday, with the deal valued at roughly $6.5 billion after OpenAI acquired 23% of io in a partnership deal in 2024.

CNBC's Arjun Kharpal discusses why OpenAI has decided to acquire Jony Ive's startup called io and what the ChatGPT-maker could be planning.

OpenAI is buying former Apple design guru Jony Ive’s artificial-intelligence gadget startup, Io. The San Francisco-based maker of ChatGPT is paying nearly $6.5 billion for Ive’s company, OpenAI said.