Q. Hi, How would Chicago style the name of the AI hardware company that goes by “io,” founded by Jony Ive and recently acquired by OpenAI? Is it a proper name that should be styled “Io,” following the example of Adidas in CMOS 8.70? Or is it an initialism (abbreviating “input-output,” I guess?), and in that case would it be “IO,” like AT&T? Thanks.
A. That’s precisely the problem: Is “io” a word like “Adidas” (rendered as “adidas” by that company in both logotype and text) or an initialism like “AT&T” (“at&t” in a previous incarnation of that company’s logo)?
An article in Wired announcing the merger gave the name an initial cap, which would suggest that it’s a word: “In the fourth quarter of last year, Io and OpenAI entered into an official agreement for OpenAI to receive a 23 percent stake in Io” (see Lauren Goode, “OpenAI’s Big Bet That Jony Ive Can Make AI Hardware Work,” May 21, 2025).*
Meanwhile, a New York Times article from that same day applied all caps, suggesting an initialism: “On Wednesday, Sam Altman, OpenAI’s chief executive, said the company was paying $6.5 billion to buy IO” (see Mike Isaac and Cade Metz, “OpenAI Unites with Jony Ive in $6.5 Billion Deal to Create A.I. Devices”).
We’ve watched the OpenAI video “Sam & Jony introduce io” (which is also from May 21; we’ve preserved the sentence case in the source’s title and lowercase “io”), but we’re still not sure what “io” is supposed to be—though it’s almost certainly just a name inspired by an abbreviation.
We’re leaning, then, toward “IO” (all caps) as the most reader-friendly choice. “Io” could be one of Jupiter’s moons (among other possibilities). And though you could just go with “io” (if you can’t beat ’em . . .), you’d need to decide whether to retain that form at the start of a sentence or heading (or risk the appearance of inconsistency by applying caps). If you’re worried about being called out as wrong by those in the know, consider adding a clarification at first mention: The merger with IO (styled “io” by the company itself) . . .
__________
* The spelling “Io” (initial cap) could mean it’s an acronym in British style, which would call for “Nasa” instead of “NASA” (an acronym) but BBC (an initialism). But Wired (or WIRED as that publication styles itself) clearly follows US style for acronyms, so “Io” in the article mentioned above suggests that it’s a word (specifically, a proper noun). See also CMOS 10.6.