Sir Jony Ive, the innovative designer of Apple’s iMac, iPhone and Apple Watch, and a close friend and collaborator of the late Steve Jobs, says he still often asks himself: “I wonder what Steve would do?”
Ive told BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs on Sunday that he does so despite the fact that Jobs had specifically told him not to before his death in 2011, aged 56.
“He used to say I really don’t want you to be thinking ‘Well, what would Steve do?’,” Ives said.
The designer, who was born in Chingford, Essex, and moved to San Francisco to work at Apple in 1992, worked alongside the company’s co-founder and CEO five years later, when Jobs was called back in to help the struggling company after a period working elsewhere.
Jobs’ return marked an immediate improvement for Ive, he recalled. “It was remarkable that, despite the limitations of my ability to communicate, Steve understood what I thought and how I felt,” Ive said.
He told host Lauren Laverne that he feels Jobs’ reputation as demanding and ruthless is unfair: “If you have such a clear, pure view of creating something new … if you are serious about actually wanting to develop and make it, you can’t just say ‘well, here’s an idea’ because if that’s how you’re going to behave, it will remain an idea.”
He added that he couldn’t read anything about Jobs for 10 years after his death.
The designer, who grew up in Staffordshire, bemoaned the lack of understanding about art and design in many schools and recalled how he felt his intelligence was questioned by teachers because he was shy and wanted to spend time making things.
Fears that the technology he has helped to create could now be interfering with human creativity worry Ive, he said, adding that he finds it difficult to monitor his own use of technology. While he praised all the benefits that have flowed from the arrival of the iPhone, he said he feels a responsibility for the unintended, negative aspects. This is in his mind when he makes decisions about the tech of the future, he added.
Ive’s concern about the threat posed by AI is mixed with his excitement about its possibilities, he said. His main worry is the unchecked speed of development. “We need time to understand and react,” he said. He did not give details of the AI project he spoke about working on last autumn with OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, but is enthusiastic: “It’s probably the first time in my career that I’m inspired by capability in this way.”
Among Ive’s musical choices were Don’t You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds and part of the soundtrack from the Disney Pixar robot movie Wall-E.