The agreement between OpenAI and Appleannounced at WWDC24, had all the ingredients to become one of the most refined movements in the sector. The artificial intelligence company of the moment landed with its star product in the ecosystem of the technological giant where practically everyone wants to be. ChatGPT now occupied a privileged position within devices compatible with Apple Intelligence: the user could take advantage of its capabilities from Siri and Writing Tools, and even link their account to access a more complete experience.
And yes, unlike other Apple Intelligence functions, such as the new Siri, which ended up being delayed, the integration with ChatGPT did end up being deployed on the apple company’s different platforms. What did not materialize, according to Mark Gurman, were the results that OpenAI expected. The startup led by Sam Altman, explains the Bloomberg analyst, was confident in an avalanche of new paying subscribers that would translate into billions of dollars annually in revenue, at a time when every dollar counted. Two years after that agreement, even the possibility of legal action begins to appear on the horizon.
The agreement, furthermore, was not exactly frozen in that first photo from WWDC24. Bloomberg points out that the integration ended up expanding with new entry doors: users could subscribe to ChatGPT directly from the iOS settings, Apple incorporated it as an option to create images in Image Playground and also used it to analyze on-screen content. On paper, it was no small feat. The problem, always according to the sources consulted by Gurman, is that these expansions were simply not enough.
An alliance without money involved, but with many expectations
The economic key to the agreement helps to understand why the disenchantment weighs so much. The American media already explained in June 2024 that Apple was not paying OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into its systems. Nor was it considered, at least at that time, as an operation in which OpenAI would buy its place within the iPhone. The payoff lay elsewhere: Apple offered distribution, visibility, and potential access to a gigantic user base. For a company that needed to turn popularity into recurring revenue, that promise was apparently worth as much as a check.
Now, the reality was much less brilliant. Bloomberg says user studies conducted by OpenA suggest that Apple customers turned much more frequently to the standalone ChatGPT application than to the integration within Siri and other system services. That information changes the reading of the agreement. If the user already has the habit of opening the app, the presence in Apple Intelligence stops working as an entrance door and it becomes something more secondary: it is there, but it does not necessarily drive the business.
The shape chosen by Apple would not have helped much either. The use of ChatGPT within their systems remained limited. The reproach attributed to OpenAI has a quite concrete logic. Bloomberg notes that the company hoped Apple would put ChatGPT in a more prominent place, not just as an option available if the user knew where to look for it. It also relied on broader integration with in-house apps and more intense promotion within its platforms.
But the matter goes further. Gurman assures that OpenAI lawyers are working with an external firm on different legal options that could be executed soon. One of them would be to send Apple a notification by alleged breach of contractwithout this necessarily implying filing a lawsuit from the first moment because it aims to resolve the conflict outside of court. It should be noted that there is no official information, and that Apple and OpenAI did not comment following the request of the American economic media.
Apple, for its part, doesn’t seem very comfortable either. The company reportedly maintained reservations about OpenAI, including whether the startup did enough to protect user privacy. Added to this is a more recent tension: OpenAI no longer wants to limit itself to software and is working on devices with several former Apple members, including Jony Ive. For Cupertino, according to Bloomberg, the signing of engineers from its hardware teams would also have been especially annoying.
That scenario is going to change even more. Already at WWDC24 Apple announced that it would open the door to integrate other AI systems in its ecosystem. So everything seems to indicate that it is a matter of time until OpenAI rivals such as Google with Gemini or Anthropic with Claude land within the apple company’s ecosystem. It would not be an expulsion from ChatGPT, but it would be an obvious loss of prominence. We have to wait to see how this agreement and the relationship between both companies will evolve.
Images | with Nano Banana
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