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  • Hacker News
  • Anyone want to bet that Apple will be the only one making a profit off the OpenAI Infringerator? À la android fat.
    by tiahura
  • The bubble expands to meet the needs of the expanding bubble.
    by s0ss
  • it really does seem like they’re just buying stuff up in the hopes that something accidentally turns into a profit to cover their previous investments/promises. Kind of a ponzi of acquisitions
    by Forgeties79
  • OpenAI really going after ex Apple people who start new companies or startups, eh? First Ive and now the duo behind Portrait mode.

    Will be interesting to see how the legal battle plays out as well.

    by maz1b
  • So they want to put their spying AI directly into the camera workflow, where you can't see it and can't turn it off. They will have infinite training data and also sell access to the alphabet agencies. The next level of total surveillance.
    by classified
  • At least something they don't claim to automate with AI. Apparently Anthropic acquired stainless for $300M instead of vibing it.
    by wannabe44
  • AI operates on the device.

    AI model vendors will likely be torn between developing their own hardware to avoid hardware dependency or moving forward together.

    Quietly, Apple and Google will take advantage of this trend.

    by kimseungyong
  • Source posted earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49701716
    by HelloUsername
  • That's an odd choice. I would have thought camera modules are commodity parts (have been for a long time) and there's not much margin there.

    Probably they are buying the staff, not the technology.

    by tantalor
  • This means that software is done.

    Hardware is the next thing which is far more valuable IP and with its staff.

    by rvz
  • The article tells you right there in the 2nd paragraph what the AI connection is, and why OpenAI are presumably buying them.
    by HarHarVeryFunny
  • Glass Imaging focuses on AI enhancement of photos (in a way that's informed by/correcting for camera hardware defects)
    by elil17
  • I'm just discovering Glass Imaging (a bit difficult as their website seems overloaded), but it seems they are in software solutions, not a hardware manufacturer or designer.
    by dolmen
  • They are just feeling around in the dark looking for the killer app to save their business.
    by KevinMS
  • Yup.

    No vision, let alone strategy.

    by jejej1
  • Both Apple and Google have dropped the ball enough with the state of recent releases that some iPhone-equivalent-disruption product from the AI industry is becoming conceivable, though I would be surprised if it turns out not to be running Android in some form.

    Putting a lot of effort into pushing complexity into software to reduce manufacturing complexity is precisely the sort of thing you worry about when you're getting serious about building consumer products.

    by fidotron
  • "running Android in some form"

    I think it's more likely it would be a radical departure from existing mobile OS.

    More like an entirely generative experience. No discrete apps. The phone screen just morphs into whatever purpose you need at the time.

    by Rover222
  • AI cameras won’t be accepted with open arms like the iPhone was 20 years ago. Might as well buy an Android if it’s an Android.

    For the mass market, the AI industry has a trust problem.

    by iAMkenough
  • I suspect Apple and Google can pivot pretty quickly if someone (OpenAI? Ive's company?) comes up with something clever.

    But if the LLM isn't local, I'm not buying.

    by JKCalhoun
  • I wonder if it might be some totally clean sheet of paper OS design but also capable of running Android applications in an emulation/virtualization layer. I think they know that any mass market handheld smartphone consumer device isn't going to succeed (windows phone) unless people can easily install all available apps from either the google play store or apple app store.
    by walrus01
  • OpenAI want to make smart glasses, but can't do that yet because its not possible.

    So they are almost certianly making an alexa type thing with cameras. So they can build a device capable of recording the entire context of a household.

    by KaiserPro
  • The time is ripening to disrupt Android/iOS. The place to start would be to rethink the device around AI. No need for apps or messy integrations with third-party crap. Just a simple device with a great new UX (not typing on a touchpad!) that is slick and does a few things very well (personal agent, coordinating with your personal knowledge base, handling external communications and your interface with the world). This could very easily supplant a phone.

    AI is rapidly getting to such a place where the you don't really need a developer ecosystem to get your device off the ground. As "plugins" into your agent at some later point -- sure, why not.

    by ssivark
  • > though I would be surprised if it turns out not to be running Android in some form.

    Just yesterday I saw a post I cant recall if on here or reddit, someone coded an entire OS with Claude Code, I would not be surprised if they invest AI compute at building an OS themselves, though I'd never buy a phone from these companies.

    The person got it running on bare hardware.

    Found it:

    https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comments/1wfpydl/i_asked_c...

    by giancarlostoro
  • what an interesting acquisition. I was the one who wrote them up originally for TC: https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/22/glass-rethinks-the-smartph...

    they had a really cool optical approach that I kind of felt immediately was doomed in the consumer market but would likely find a cool, valuable niche. The unique distortion patterns and front element I felt probably ruled out cinema but beyond that I had no idea. looks like they pivoted at some point but their expertise in lens accommodation does seem like it could be helpful.

    by devindotcom