OpenAI’s legal team is exploring a breach‑of‑contract notice to Apple, Bloomberg reports, after the ChatGPT‑Siri integration fell short of the revenue targets the two firms projected. The partnership, announced in June 2024, was billed as a "Safari‑scale" deal that could drive billions of dollars in paid subscriptions each year. In practice, Apple’s implementation buried the ChatGPT functionality behind extra steps, requiring users to say the word "ChatGPT" to activate the model and delivering answers in limited windows. OpenAI’s internal studies show most iPhone owners prefer the standalone ChatGPT app, leaving the anticipated subscription stream largely untapped.
OpenAI’s lawyers have engaged an outside firm to evaluate options, including a formal breach notice. The company has not filed a lawsuit and says it still hopes to settle the matter without court involvement. Sources close to the discussions say the timing of any legal move is being coordinated with OpenAI’s ongoing federal trial against Elon Musk over its nonprofit‑to‑profit conversion, a case that could expose the firm to up to $150 billion in damages.
Apple’s AI strategy is shifting as well. The upcoming iOS 27 operating system, slated for a June 8 debut at the Worldwide Developers Conference, will feature an "Extensions" framework that lets users install alternative AI chatbots from the App Store and route Siri queries, writing tasks, and image generation to the model of their choice. Apple is already testing integrations with Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini, and it has a $1 billion‑per‑year agreement with Google to power the next generation of Siri. The move effectively reduces Apple’s reliance on any single partner, including OpenAI.
The partnership’s decline also coincides with OpenAI’s broader business moves. Earlier this year, the company renegotiated its exclusive licensing agreement with Microsoft, capping revenue‑sharing payments at $38 billion through 2030 and opening its models to any cloud provider. Amazon deepened its stake in Anthropic with an additional $5 billion investment, while OpenAI acquired the device startup io, co‑founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive. The acquisition positions OpenAI to compete directly with Apple in hardware, a development that has reportedly irked Apple executives, especially as OpenAI lured several former Apple engineers with lucrative stock packages.
Apple has its own set of grievances. The company has expressed concerns about OpenAI’s privacy practices and is reportedly displeased with the way the AI firm handled the integration, which Apple’s internal teams say lacked genuine promotion. The limited, windowed responses in Siri have been described by OpenAI insiders as damaging the brand’s perception of its capabilities.
Industry observers note that the fallout illustrates the challenges of aligning two tech giants whose core ambitions—owning the device and owning the intelligence—can be at odds. While Apple’s move to an open‑model Extensions system could eventually give ChatGPT a more prominent placement through a model‑picker interface, the immediate effect is a clear downgrade from privileged partner to one option among many.
As OpenAI weighs its next steps, the company continues to navigate a crowded AI landscape. Its legal dispute with Apple adds to a slate of high‑stakes battles, from the Musk trial to renegotiated cloud contracts, all while it pushes into hardware with the io acquisition. Whether the conflict escalates to litigation or resolves through renegotiation, the episode underscores the growing pains of integrating generative AI into entrenched consumer ecosystems.
Cet article a été rédigé avec l'assistance de l'IA.
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