A budding partnership between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and legendary iPhone designer Jony Ive to develop a new artificial intelligence hardware product has hit a legal snag after a federal judge ruled they must temporarily stop marketing the new venture.

Jony Ive became renowned for a meticulous design aesthetic that shaped the cultural zeitgeist during a 27-year career at Apple, which he left in 2019.

OpenAI has recruited Jony Ive, the designer behind Apple’s iPhone, to lead a new hardware project for the artificial intelligence company that makes ChatGPT.

When Jony Ive first met Steve Jobs, Ive expected to be fired. Against that backdrop, Jobs paid a visit to Apple's design studio, where Ive was only recently put in charge. Apple announced Thursday that Ive is leaving Apple after nearly 30 years with the company. With Ive's departure and Jobs' passing, Apple's two key tastemakers are no longer working at Apple. "He was the soul of Apple's industrial design," Tim Bajarin, a longtime Apple analyst, told CNN Business.