All Media. Hello and welcome to this week's Better Offline monologue. I am, of course, said Zitron. Last week, Open Ai abruptly pulled the promotional materials around, along with any mention of it's six point four billion dollar all stock acquisition of Jony Ive's Ioproducts, an AI startup that is allegedly making some sort of screenless AI device with open Ai that will allegedly launch next year. Said device will not be according to the Wall Street Journal, it won't be a phone, and I have an Aortmand's intent is to help ween user some screens. I love my screen. I don't know why people keep thinking that's a bad thing, but anyway, it turns out the reason that they did this is that a company called Io sued Ioproducts Open Ai Sam Altman and I quote Sir Jonathan Paul Ive Johnny Ive, I just want a name on June ninth, twenty twenty five, for trademark infringement, unfair competition, and unfair business practices. Io also makes the case that these violations weren't a simply unhappy coincidence, but rather a deliberate action. A judge granted the temporary restraining order on June twenty to twenty twenty five that stops Ioproducts and open Ai from using its name, which has obviously put the brakes on Aortman's attempt to hype this acquisition, which he had previously leaked to The Wall Street Journal, could add a trillion dollars to the company's valuation, which is of course bullshit. At this point, I'm going to start calling Ioproducts, by which I mean open Ai is soon to be maybe acquired hardware wing the defendants because Io, by which I mean the starthub in question, sounds literally the same. Io has been referring to a device that they're making as a computer without a screen since according to an archive version of their website I found at least April second, twenty twenty five. The defendants argued in their response to Io's complaint that they made changes only after seeing Ioproducts. So Jony ivesting Johnny, I fucking don't care and their thing when they launched, and this is before they filed the complaint, which is actually true anyway, Who are these people? So? Io was founded in March twenty eighteen, is part of Google X, which is effectively Google's internal skunk Works R and D division, and was spun out as an independent company in August twenty twenty one, raising a further thirty seven point two million dollars on top of the twenty five million dollars Google had already provided. I always been preparing for launch ever since. They've had an audiologist to prove thing. I think that's come out since. But the Io one device, the thing that's really the thing that we're talking about here, which is an ear worn screenless computer that's meant to have launched already take a run, said it with launching Winter twenty twenty four in twenty twenty four, and of course it hasn't, and the current store page says it will launch in August twenty twenty five. But bugger me, I don't know how they possibly raise money. Now there is a company, possibly owned by open Ai, that has the same name that might do the same thing. It's not great, and it doesn't get better for the defendants because Io also owns a trademark one that covers ever everything from audio head phones, microcomputers, downloadable mobile operating system software a bunch of other things that would make it very easy to mistake the defendant's announcement. Well for Io and the Io one, I mean they have the same fucking name. They have the same name. They have the same name. Now, one might think this is all a weird coincidence, except it very well might not be. According to Io's complaint, representatives from Sam Moltman's Apollo Projects, one of his many venture capital firms, met with the company multiple times, receiving technical information and the vision for the product, along with demonstrations of whatever they had at the time. Weirdly enough, in April twenty twenty two, Io was also introduced to Johnny Ive's design firm love From to talk about a potential partnership, one that loved From eventually declined. Important detail love From also works with open Ai. I don't know if they'd started at that point. In twenty twenty two, Io also attempted to hire Evans Hanky as their head of design. Great name there, and basically the air apparent to Johnny. I've at Apple and I've left, except Hanky left to join. I've on a product sounds the same. I just fucking hate these people, Hanky declined, and in the defendant's reply, framed the conversation as Hanky taking a favor for a friend, just talking to someone. Nevertheless, Hanky went on to co found the defendant's version of Ioproducts in twenty twenty three. Also, a lot of the defendant's arguments are yeah, I was just being nice. I was just meeting with them because they were nice, because Altman himself said on Twitter, Oh, I meet with founders all the time. Do you do they have the same fucking name as the companies you're buying? Jesus Christ. In twenty twenty five, Io chose to reach out to Sam Mortman to invest and got the response that Aortman was and I quote working on something competitive and that he would and I quote again respectfully pass, before adding that the company was called Io Products and that Johnny I've was driving this, which is also a quote. Otherwise, multiple people that work for the defendants identically named company went on to try Io's current product, as well as received demonstrations of the upcoming Io one device as screen this computer that you control with your voice. I also that there were multiple meetings of Open Ai representatives and Altman himself about an acquisition, though emails that Altman has publicly shared make it seem more like a friendly gesture this time, and I would buy that to an extent. On the announcement of the deal to acquire Ives Company in May, Io CEO Jason Rugolo, Rugolo reached out to Waltman again to see you about partnering or maybe an acquisition, eventually bringing up that there was an obvious similarity between the names. He used the words rut Row, which if I was in a high stakes corporate negotiation, I would not speak like Scooby Doo. Now. The defendants frame Rugolo and Io's meetings as a generosity in their part, and their generosity was so profound that they chose to meet with Io at least five times over the course of three years. For whatever reason, both Altman and Rugolo are choosing to post about this publicly, and both of them seem like huge assholes. Rgalo also posted I have not, nor have I ever been suicidal on Twitter, and I must add I'm not a lawyer, but some legal don't post that or anything. Don't ever if you're in a lawsuit, don't go fucking posting about the lawsuit. I don't care if you're some guy or your Sam Altman you shouldn't be doing that. It's just very frustrating to watch as talking to a friend of the show case of Kagawa about this, and I think it gave him madness, which is good because I like to share it with people. Nevertheless, the judge order that the defendant sees using the name Ioproducts until a hearing is held in October, and in general judges are hesitant to make this kind of ruling with that sincere belief that the case says merit. But in summary, this suit alligious that representatives of Sam Altman, Johnny Ive and their respective firms Ioproducts, Love From Apollo Projects and Open Ai repeatedly met with io as in Jason Roguolo's company as a means of learning more about the intellectual property and design of its products, going as far as to suggest that they may partner with invest in or consider acquiring the company. Keep thinking of like a Jason Derulo bit with Rugulo, but I don't know how to say his name proper. At this point, I'm several minutes into recording them. Mogue, someone else do the funny. But to me, something about this whole thing feels fishy on both counts. The defendant's argument is that these meetings were harmless roaming Rogulo and Iowa's desperate counterparties with the device stuck in development hell begging open Ai and Sam Mormon to invest in or acquire them, which is compelling. Ish the emails that Sam Worman shared publicly, and I'll have these in the notes, they don't make mister Jason look particularly good. They make him look a little desperate. But the same time, and I know this from talking to various founders about like money is, you generally don't go in heart and the bigger they are, they get it kind of glad handle them a little bit because you don't want to piss them off. It's basic business. So he could have just been being nice. I would actually buy this. I would also buy the defendant's argument, and I think it would have a lot more weight if it wasn't for the fact that they'd met with IO so many fucking times and their goddamn name is identical. In fact, what makes this entire thing so ridiculous is that Altman and I could have named their startup literally anything else, and none of this would have happened. They could have named it Burger Inc. And it would have been fine. IO would never have sued them if they were called but Burger Inc. I don't know what they're doing. But I guess the creator of the world's biggest plagiarism machine couldn't fucking help himself. Well, the emails that Altman has shared publicly do make Rigolo's sound a bit cloying and don't feel like things you'd send somebody you have a deep relationship with, like they feel like new conversations and very generic. Io claims that there have been multiple other calls and emails, and I imagine those will come out and discovery, which is the part of the lawsuit where everybody has to share emails and communications. Yet, for me, the most damning part is the involvement of Johnny Ive's love from in twenty twenty two. Almand's absolutely a gadfly, and I would buy the idea that he'd meet with random people doing an AI star up. There is a history there of him randomly responding to people and meeting up with them. Sure, whatever, but why was Johnny Ive's design for meeting with Io in twenty twenty two, a year before he'd found a company with the same name that does something really similar sounding in roughly the same timeframe that Sam Altan was meeting with them. I mean, Sam Ortman's represented. This isn't that a weird I mean it is. It's extremely weird. Why you just this friendly? You just love hanging out This Jason guy doesn't seem like he's doing well. Is he really charming? Is he fun to hang out with? Jason? Hit me up, baby, let's hang out. Actually, don't do that. You're at a really big lawsuit. I don't want to fucking talk to you. Stop posting. In any case, this fascal situation will ground open AI's hardware efforts to a halt for a little bit, at least until at least for a month. But they could just rebrand. It's like but Burger, Inc. Maybe, but just throwing that out there, call me Sam and if you use that name, I'm suing you too. And while they could come up with a new name such as butt Burger, any details of the product that leg or announced will now face unbelievable scrutiny, if not by the tech press, but by me and Io's lawyers, because that's the thing. They chose this name, and changing the name will not hide the fact that they knew some stuff about Io's products, me and the plaintiff in this lawsuit. That's the other thing. The name is so similar, man, you couldn't have come up with any and their claiming, by the way, oh Io refers to input output, which is true. But fuck mate, could you not have come up with anything else? Any other name? But Burger? I don't know. I'm going to say that at least one more time before the end of the episode in but Burger. There you go. Anyway, this whole thing is fucking stupid. I find both sides of the situation very annoying. And it's also important to note that Open Eye is yet to buy io products, you know, the Johnny I've startup, and it's currently in the process of trying to convince Microsoft to let them become a for profit company, which I will get to probably in next week's monologue. Until then, I just want to say that everybody in this situation kind of fucking sucks.

All Media. Hello and welcome to this week's Better Offline monologue. I am, of course, said Zitron. Last week, Open Ai abruptly pulled the promotional materials around, along with any mention of it's six point four billion dollar all stock acquisition of Jony Ive's Ioproducts, an AI startup that is allegedly making some sort of screenless AI device with open Ai that will allegedly launch next year. Said device will not be according to the Wall Street Journal, it won't be a phone, and I have an Aortmand's intent is to help ween user some screens. I love my screen. I don't know why people keep thinking that's a bad thing, but anyway, it turns out the reason that they did this is that a company called Io sued Ioproducts Open Ai Sam Altman and I quote Sir Jonathan Paul Ive Johnny Ive, I just want a name on June ninth, twenty twenty five, for trademark infringement, unfair competition, and unfair business practices. Io also makes the case that these violations weren't a simply unhappy coincidence, but rather a deliberate action. A judge granted the temporary restraining order on June twenty to twenty twenty five that stops Ioproducts and open Ai from using its name, which has obviously put the brakes on Aortman's attempt to hype this acquisition, which he had previously leaked to The Wall Street Journal, could add a trillion dollars to the company's valuation, which is of course bullshit. At this point, I'm going to start calling Ioproducts, by which I mean open Ai is soon to be maybe acquired hardware wing the defendants because Io, by which I mean the starthub in question, sounds literally the same. Io has been referring to a device that they're making as a computer without a screen since according to an archive version of their website I found at least April second, twenty twenty five. The defendants argued in their response to Io's complaint that they made changes only after seeing Ioproducts. So Jony ivesting Johnny, I fucking don't care and their thing when they launched, and this is before they filed the complaint, which is actually true anyway, Who are these people? So? Io was founded in March twenty eighteen, is part of Google X, which is effectively Google's internal skunk Works R and D division, and was spun out as an independent company in August twenty twenty one, raising a further thirty seven point two million dollars on top of the twenty five million dollars Google had already provided. I always been preparing for launch ever since. They've had an audiologist to prove thing. I think that's come out since. But the Io one device, the thing that's really the thing that we're talking about here, which is an ear worn screenless computer that's meant to have launched already take a run, said it with launching Winter twenty twenty four in twenty twenty four, and of course it hasn't, and the current store page says it will launch in August twenty twenty five. But bugger me, I don't know how they possibly raise money. Now there is a company, possibly owned by open Ai, that has the same name that might do the same thing. It's not great, and it doesn't get better for the defendants because Io also owns a trademark one that covers ever everything from audio head phones, microcomputers, downloadable mobile operating system software a bunch of other things that would make it very easy to mistake the defendant's announcement. Well for Io and the Io one, I mean they have the same fucking name. They have the same name. They have the same name. Now, one might think this is all a weird coincidence, except it very well might not be. According to Io's complaint, representatives from Sam Moltman's Apollo Projects, one of his many venture capital firms, met with the company multiple times, receiving technical information and the vision for the product, along with demonstrations of whatever they had at the time. Weirdly enough, in April twenty twenty two, Io was also introduced to Johnny Ive's design firm love From to talk about a potential partnership, one that loved From eventually declined. Important detail love From also works with open Ai. I don't know if they'd started at that point. In twenty twenty two, Io also attempted to hire Evans Hanky as their head of design. Great name there, and basically the air apparent to Johnny. I've at Apple and I've left, except Hanky left to join. I've on a product sounds the same. I just fucking hate these people, Hanky declined, and in the defendant's reply, framed the conversation as Hanky taking a favor for a friend, just talking to someone. Nevertheless, Hanky went on to co found the defendant's version of Ioproducts in twenty twenty three. Also, a lot of the defendant's arguments are yeah, I was just being nice. I was just meeting with them because they were nice, because Altman himself said on Twitter, Oh, I meet with founders all the time. Do you do they have the same fucking name as the companies you're buying? Jesus Christ. In twenty twenty five, Io chose to reach out to Sam Mortman to invest and got the response that Aortman was and I quote working on something competitive and that he would and I quote again respectfully pass, before adding that the company was called Io Products and that Johnny I've was driving this, which is also a quote. Otherwise, multiple people that work for the defendants identically named company went on to try Io's current product, as well as received demonstrations of the upcoming Io one device as screen this computer that you control with your voice. I also that there were multiple meetings of Open Ai representatives and Altman himself about an acquisition, though emails that Altman has publicly shared make it seem more like a friendly gesture this time, and I would buy that to an extent. On the announcement of the deal to acquire Ives Company in May, Io CEO Jason Rugolo, Rugolo reached out to Waltman again to see you about partnering or maybe an acquisition, eventually bringing up that there was an obvious similarity between the names. He used the words rut Row, which if I was in a high stakes corporate negotiation, I would not speak like Scooby Doo. Now. The defendants frame Rugolo and Io's meetings as a generosity in their part, and their generosity was so profound that they chose to meet with Io at least five times over the course of three years. For whatever reason, both Altman and Rugolo are choosing to post about this publicly, and both of them seem like huge assholes. Rgalo also posted I have not, nor have I ever been suicidal on Twitter, and I must add I'm not a lawyer, but some legal don't post that or anything. Don't ever if you're in a lawsuit, don't go fucking posting about the lawsuit. I don't care if you're some guy or your Sam Altman you shouldn't be doing that. It's just very frustrating to watch as talking to a friend of the show case of Kagawa about this, and I think it gave him madness, which is good because I like to share it with people. Nevertheless, the judge order that the defendant sees using the name Ioproducts until a hearing is held in October, and in general judges are hesitant to make this kind of ruling with that sincere belief that the case says merit. But in summary, this suit alligious that representatives of Sam Altman, Johnny Ive and their respective firms Ioproducts, Love From Apollo Projects and Open Ai repeatedly met with io as in Jason Roguolo's company as a means of learning more about the intellectual property and design of its products, going as far as to suggest that they may partner with invest in or consider acquiring the company. Keep thinking of like a Jason Derulo bit with Rugulo, but I don't know how to say his name proper. At this point, I'm several minutes into recording them. Mogue, someone else do the funny. But to me, something about this whole thing feels fishy on both counts. The defendant's argument is that these meetings were harmless roaming Rogulo and Iowa's desperate counterparties with the device stuck in development hell begging open Ai and Sam Mormon to invest in or acquire them, which is compelling. Ish the emails that Sam Worman shared publicly, and I'll have these in the notes, they don't make mister Jason look particularly good. They make him look a little desperate. But the same time, and I know this from talking to various founders about like money is, you generally don't go in heart and the bigger they are, they get it kind of glad handle them a little bit because you don't want to piss them off. It's basic business. So he could have just been being nice. I would actually buy this. I would also buy the defendant's argument, and I think it would have a lot more weight if it wasn't for the fact that they'd met with IO so many fucking times and their goddamn name is identical. In fact, what makes this entire thing so ridiculous is that Altman and I could have named their startup literally anything else, and none of this would have happened. They could have named it Burger Inc. And it would have been fine. IO would never have sued them if they were called but Burger Inc. I don't know what they're doing. But I guess the creator of the world's biggest plagiarism machine couldn't fucking help himself. Well, the emails that Altman has shared publicly do make Rigolo's sound a bit cloying and don't feel like things you'd send somebody you have a deep relationship with, like they feel like new conversations and very generic. Io claims that there have been multiple other calls and emails, and I imagine those will come out and discovery, which is the part of the lawsuit where everybody has to share emails and communications. Yet, for me, the most damning part is the involvement of Johnny Ive's love from in twenty twenty two. Almand's absolutely a gadfly, and I would buy the idea that he'd meet with random people doing an AI star up. There is a history there of him randomly responding to people and meeting up with them. Sure, whatever, but why was Johnny Ive's design for meeting with Io in twenty twenty two, a year before he'd found a company with the same name that does something really similar sounding in roughly the same timeframe that Sam Altan was meeting with them. I mean, Sam Ortman's represented. This isn't that a weird I mean it is. It's extremely weird. Why you just this friendly? You just love hanging out This Jason guy doesn't seem like he's doing well. Is he really charming? Is he fun to hang out with? Jason? Hit me up, baby, let's hang out. Actually, don't do that. You're at a really big lawsuit. I don't want to fucking talk to you. Stop posting. In any case, this fascal situation will ground open AI's hardware efforts to a halt for a little bit, at least until at least for a month. But they could just rebrand. It's like but Burger, Inc. Maybe, but just throwing that out there, call me Sam and if you use that name, I'm suing you too. And while they could come up with a new name such as butt Burger, any details of the product that leg or announced will now face unbelievable scrutiny, if not by the tech press, but by me and Io's lawyers, because that's the thing. They chose this name, and changing the name will not hide the fact that they knew some stuff about Io's products, me and the plaintiff in this lawsuit. That's the other thing. The name is so similar, man, you couldn't have come up with any and their claiming, by the way, oh Io refers to input output, which is true. But fuck mate, could you not have come up with anything else? Any other name? But Burger? I don't know. I'm going to say that at least one more time before the end of the episode in but Burger. There you go. Anyway, this whole thing is fucking stupid. I find both sides of the situation very annoying. And it's also important to note that Open Eye is yet to buy io products, you know, the Johnny I've startup, and it's currently in the process of trying to convince Microsoft to let them become a for profit company, which I will get to probably in next week's monologue. Until then, I just want to say that everybody in this situation kind of fucking sucks.