Jony Ive and Laurene Powell Jobs, founder and chairman of Emerson Group and Steve’s widow, have acknowledged that the iPhone played a role in the “dark” side of technology.
Ive has also said that his mysterious AI device would not have been possible without the support and investment of Paul Jobs…
We heard more than a year ago that Jony Ive and Sam Altman were seeking $1 billion in funding for the device, and that they were in investment talks with Powell Jobs. We noted at the time that the businessman and philanthropist was close friends with both Ive and Altman, having known both of them for decades.
It appears that these talks were successful, given that they participated in them jointly Financial Times Interview to at least indicate that. You’ve said that his entire company, LoveFrom, wouldn’t have happened without her support.
Paul Jobs, whose Emerson Collective owns The Atlantic and has a philanthropic arm along with investments in health, education and fintech companies, backed LoveFrom after she left Apple in 2019. “If it wasn’t for Lauren, there wouldn’t be LoveFrom,” he says.
The couple admit that technology like smartphones has a “dark” side to it.
Powell Jobs believes that “people are still excited” about the idea that technology can be a force for good, but he adds a caveat. “We know now, unequivocally, that there are ambiguous uses for certain types of technology. You can only look at the studies being done on teenage girls and on anxiety in young people, and rising mental health needs, to understand that we have gone sideways. The technology certainly was not designed to achieve this outcome. But this is the sideline.”
Yves agrees. “If you make something new, if you innovate, there will be unexpected consequences, some of which will be wonderful and some of which will be harmful.” He acknowledges his role in products that changed our relationship with technology. “Even though some of the less positive consequences were unintended, I still feel a sense of responsibility. It manifests itself in the determination to try and be useful.”
While neither has revealed anything about the nature of the new devices, Powell Jobs is implying that they won’t directly compete with Apple’s existing product lineup — or at least, they don’t want to.
“I’m still very close to the leadership team at Apple. They’re really good people and I want them to succeed, too.”
Ive said the new project has reignited his optimism about technology.
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