Apple will integrate ChatGPT into iOS after deal with OpenAI

Apple has reportedly agreed a deal with OpenAI that means it will integrate ChatGPT into iOS, in what's claimed to be a temporary arrangement until Apple's own Siri can be improved.

Backing up previous reports that Apple and OpenAI's Sam Altman have entered into a deal, Bloomberg says that the arrangement will be central to Apple's AI announcements at WWDC on June 10, 2024. It's not believed that Altman will make an appearance, however.

It's claimed that the deal to integrate ChatGPT into iOS is specifically because Apple's own Siri is not yet up to scratch. That's despite many recent reports such as one saying that Siri will see a massive AI upgrade via Apple's own Ajax LLM.

It reportedly won't be mandatory. The report claims that users will have to opt in to using the service, rather than opt out. However, details aren't clear yet.

No specifics of the deal have been revealed as yet, and neither Apple nor OpenAI have confirmed the arrangement. Apple has previously been reported to be in talks to license Google Gemini's AI features for iPhones.

It's not known whether electing to make a deal with OpenAI means that Apple has closed the door on any Google arrangement. It's possible that Apple may launch an AI App Store, which could then include Google Gemini amongst others.

14 Comments

twolf2919 148 comments · 2 Years

About 6 months ago

Opt-in would make sense since agreeing to it will likely mean giving up some privacy to ChatGPT servers in the cloud.

If I had guts, I'd short AAPL stock - it's been rising for the past few months simply on analysts' expectation that Apple will make big announcements regarding AI. I.e. letting the world know that it isn't behind in AI, after all. But if, instead, we find out that they are indeed hopelessly behind - by essentially offering us another company's AI on their devices - the stock will go down, for sure.

And this sounds about right - Apple hasn't managed to improve Siri in 10+ years. There's no reason to believe Apple could inject a massive improvement into it in the 1-2 years that AI has become a hot topic.

tmay 6455 comments · 11 Years

About 6 months ago

twolf2919 said:

Opt-in would make sense since agreeing to it will likely mean giving up some privacy to ChatGPT servers in the cloud.
If I had guts, I'd short AAPL stock - it's been rising for the past few months simply on analysts' expectation that Apple will make big announcements regarding AI. I.e. letting the world know that it isn't behind in AI, after all. But if, instead, we find out that they are indeed hopelessly behind - by essentially offering us another company's AI on their devices - the stock will go down, for sure.

And this sounds about right - Apple hasn't managed to improve Siri in 10+ years. There's no reason to believe Apple could inject a massive improvement into it in the 1-2 years that AI has become a hot topic.

You seem to discount that fact that Apple has something on the order of 1.45 B iPhone users, and it those users haven't abandoned Apple from the lack of noticeable Siri improvements, then likely, there isn't any impact to Apple from "leading from the back" in AI.

twolf2919 148 comments · 2 Years

About 6 months ago

tmay said:

twolf2919 said:

Opt-in would make sense since agreeing to it will likely mean giving up some privacy to ChatGPT servers in the cloud.
If I had guts, I'd short AAPL stock - it's been rising for the past few months simply on analysts' expectation that Apple will make big announcements regarding AI. I.e. letting the world know that it isn't behind in AI, after all. But if, instead, we find out that they are indeed hopelessly behind - by essentially offering us another company's AI on their devices - the stock will go down, for sure.

And this sounds about right - Apple hasn't managed to improve Siri in 10+ years. There's no reason to believe Apple could inject a massive improvement into it in the 1-2 years that AI has become a hot topic.

You seem to discount that fact that Apple has something on the order of 1.45 B iPhone users, and it those users haven't abandoned Apple from the lack of noticeable Siri improvements, then likely, there isn't any impact to Apple from "leading from the back" in AI. pp

I haven't discounted that. I have no doubt, any existing Apple users - including myself - will appreciate any significant new features Apple bestows on them. But if Apple's great AI announcement turns out to be a partnership with OpenAI, where interactions are sent off-device to ChatGPT servers, it's hard to see how that would lead to some great "super" upgrade cycle as analysts are currently predicting. After all, if all the heavy lifting is done in the cloud, why would you need a new phone? Just install iOS 18 on your existing device and you're ready to go!

On the other hand, if Siri received a real overhaul using AI and finally became a really useful personal assistant - with my privacy kept intact by using an on-device LLM - I'd certainly stand in line for a new phone that has the required power/RAM to do this.

blastdoor 3576 comments · 15 Years

About 6 months ago

twolf2919 said:

tmay said:

twolf2919 said:

Opt-in would make sense since agreeing to it will likely mean giving up some privacy to ChatGPT servers in the cloud.
If I had guts, I'd short AAPL stock - it's been rising for the past few months simply on analysts' expectation that Apple will make big announcements regarding AI. I.e. letting the world know that it isn't behind in AI, after all. But if, instead, we find out that they are indeed hopelessly behind - by essentially offering us another company's AI on their devices - the stock will go down, for sure.

And this sounds about right - Apple hasn't managed to improve Siri in 10+ years. There's no reason to believe Apple could inject a massive improvement into it in the 1-2 years that AI has become a hot topic.

You seem to discount that fact that Apple has something on the order of 1.45 B iPhone users, and it those users haven't abandoned Apple from the lack of noticeable Siri improvements, then likely, there isn't any impact to Apple from "leading from the back" in AI. pp

I haven't discounted that. I have no doubt, any existing Apple users - including myself - will appreciate any significant new features Apple bestows on them. But if Apple's great AI announcement turns out to be a partnership with OpenAI, where interactions are sent off-device to ChatGPT servers, it's hard to see how that would lead to some great "super" upgrade cycle as analysts are currently predicting. After all, if all the heavy lifting is done in the cloud, why would you need a new phone? Just install iOS 18 on your existing device and you're ready to go!

On the other hand, if Siri received a real overhaul using AI and finally became a really useful personal assistant - with my privacy kept intact by using an on-device LLM - I'd certainly stand in line for a new phone that has the required power/RAM to do this.

People don’t care how/why the feature is there, only that it is there. The how/why is interesting to nerds, but not to normals. Mac sales went up when Apple switched to Intel because switching to Intel made the Mac better — people didn’t care that Apple was abandoning a processor they helped develop for the dreaded x86.

It’s true that if all new features can be accessed from existing phones then there is little reason to upgrade BUT working with OpenAI doesn’t mean that’s the case. There will likely be many features that require, or work better on, a new iPhone.

Note that Microsoft heavily uses OpenAI but still requires a beefy NPU for a new PC to meet their new AI branding requirements. They aren’t just doing that to help out the chip guys.