OpenAI is acquiring io, an AI device startup started by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, for close to $6.5 billion, according to a person with knowledge of the deal. The news confirms The Information’s report last month that OpenAI was considering buying the startup. The startup’s 55 employees will join OpenAI, the person said, while Ive will take charge of creative and design at OpenAI. But Ive won’t become an OpenAI employee. Instead, Ive’s design firm, LoveFrom, will remain independent from OpenAI. The collaboration signals OpenAI’s desire to develop AI-powered consumer devices. OpenAI already owned a 23% stake in io, due to an agreement signed in the fourth quarter of last year, the person with knowledge said. To buy out the rest, OpenAI is paying $5 billion in equity. OpenAI’s startup fund is also an investor in io, they said. The company expects the deal to close this summer. io’s other investors include Emerson Collective, Sutter Hill Ventures, Thrive Capital, Maverick Capital and SV Angel, according to a person with direct knowledge of the investments. It’s still not clear what exactly the consumer devices io and OpenAI are building will look like. The Information previously reported that potential designs included a “phone” without a screen and AI-enabled household devices. The Information first reported that Altman and Ive were collaborating on a device and that io was in talks to raise funding from Emerson Collective and Thrive Capital. https://www.wsj.com/tech/..