By buld_online 
OpenAI has quietly removed all references to “io,” the hardware startup co-founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive, from its website and social media platforms. The move comes just weeks after the two sides unveiled a major partnership worth nearly $6.5 billion, aimed at developing consumer-facing AI hardware.
The original blog post and a nine-minute announcement video featuring Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have also been taken down. The now-unavailable blog post had stated: “The io team, focused on developing products that inspire, empower and enable, will now merge with OpenAI to work more intimately with the research, engineering and product teams in San Francisco.”
OpenAI confirmed to The Verge that the deal itself remains intact. However, the branding change is due to a trademark complaint filed by Iyo, a hearing device startup spun out of Google’s moonshot division. A court order appears to have prompted the removal of the content.
“This page is temporarily down due to a court order following a trademark complaint from iyO about our use of the name ‘io,’” said OpenAI spokesperson Kayla Wood to The Verge. “We don’t agree with the complaint and are reviewing our options.”
A spokesperson for Ive told Bloomberg the challenge was “an utterly baseless complaint and we’ll fight it vigorously.”
Despite the branding setback, both parties insist the partnership is still moving forward. Whether the final hardware products will carry the “io” name, however, remains uncertain.
The original announcement had been positioned as a landmark moment for OpenAI, signalling its most ambitious push yet into physical devices designed around human-centric AI experiences.