Apple's two-year partnership with OpenAI on the verge of fiasco - Bloomberg

The cooperation between OpenAI and Apple, in the framework of which ChatGPT was built into the iPhone, did not yield the expected result and now the AI startup is studying possible legal actions against the partner, Bloomberg sources say. The matter may initially involve sending the iPhone maker a notice alleging breach of contract - without filing a full-fledged lawsuit, the agency has learned. Its interlocutors believe that the AI giant is unlikely to get involved in a lawsuit with Apple before the proceedings with Elon Musk are finalized.

OpenAI expected the partnership with Apple to encourage more users to subscribe to the chatbot. The AI company also expected deeper integration in more Apple apps and full integration with the Siri voice assistant. Instead, the use of OpenAI technologies in Apple's operating systems remains limited, and relevant features can be hard to find, Bloomberg writes.

"From a product standpoint, we've done everything," a top OpenAI executive, who asked not to be named, told the agency. - And they didn't, and worse, they didn't even make an honest attempt."

The companies' 2024 agreement allowed users to receive responses from ChatGPT inside Siri, as well as use the AI technology to generate text and analyze surrounding objects through the Visual Intelligence feature on the iPhone. The partnership later expanded, with Apple adding ChatGPT as an option to create images in the Image Playground app and analyze on-screen content. iPhone users were able to subscribe to ChatGPT directly from the iOS settings menu - with Apple taking a portion of the money generated in this way. OpenAI expected that over time this agreement could become a major source of revenue. Instead, the relationship deteriorated, and OpenAI's attempts to renegotiate the deal have stalled, Bloomberg notes.

Apple customers are significantly more likely to turn to the standalone ChatGPT app than access OpenAI technologies through Siri and other Apple services, user research conducted by the AI startup has revealed, the agency has learned.

Now Apple is testing integration with both Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini. An updated Siri, with the ability to select a chatbot for integration, will be part of the iOS 27 operating system, which is expected to be unveiled at Apple's developer conference on June 8.

Representatives for OpenAI and Apple declined to comment to Bloomberg.

OpenAI plans to become a hardware competitor to Apple. Last year, the AI company acquired a next-generation device startup co-founded by former Apple chief designer Jony Ive. Now this division, headed by ex-Apple executives Tang Tan and Evans Hankey, is working on creating alternatives to the iPhone and other gadgets.

According to Bloomberg, Apple's top managers have been outraged for more than a year by the way OpenAI poaches engineers from the iPhone maker's hardware development team. To attract talent, the startup offers equity compensation packages worth millions of dollars more than Apple's salary.

Also back in 2024, Apple had separate concerns about ChatGPT's privacy standards. But the company felt it had no choice but to integrate the technology, realizing that its own internal generative AI features were far from ready, Bloomberg writes.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor