Apple will give OpenAI exposure in new deal, not cash – reports

Apple announced the much anticipated OpenAI agreement at the annual developer’s conference this week but kept pretty quiet about the terms of the deal.

The partnership will see ChatGPT being integrated into Siri, forming Apple Intelligence. This will level up the voice assistant that has been an integral part of iPhones, iPads, and Macs since 2011 and beyond.

With the help of OpenAI, Siri will now be able to handle more actions and complete complicated tasks. While the rumors of the duo coming together were in the works for months, no money was reportedly exchanged in the deal.

Insiders told Bloomberg,  Apple isn’t paying OpenAI as part of the partnership.

“Instead, Apple believes pushing OpenAI’s brand and technology to hundreds of millions of its devices is of equal or greater value than monetary payments.”

Representatives of Apple and OpenAI declined to comment.

As the publisher points out, OpenAI could end up making money from the deal if they’re able to convince Apple users to pay $20 a month for ChatGPT Plus. If those people sign up on an Apple device, the iPhone maker will get a commission too.

This is all part of the push toward artificial intelligence, with Apple reportedly in talks with Google to offer Gemini integration to iOS users. Discussions with Anthropic about its Claude AI chatbot have been reported too.

Elon Musk immediately hits out at Apple and OpenAI duo

On the day of the announcement (June 10) the Tesla CEO quickly took to his X social media platform to say: “If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies. That is an unacceptable security violation.

“And visitors will have to check their Apple devices at the door, where they will be stored in a Faraday cage.”

If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies. That is an unacceptable security violation.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 10, 2024

He even replied to CEO Tim Cook directly, saying: “Don’t want it. Either stop this creepy spyware or all Apple devices will be banned from the premises of my companies.”

He seems to have jumped the gun a little though, as his knee-jerk reaction appears to be down to a misunderstanding about how the OpenAI integration will work.

In response to his online post, a Community Note has appeared to clarify the truth, saying “Apple has developed their foundational models which run on-device (locally) and have approximately 3 billion parameters. For tasks that require more computing, Apple either uses Private Cloud Compute (open to verify for privacy) or OpenAI with an additional confirmation.”

Featured Image: Via Apple Newsroom