In This Story
Apple finally unveiled its generative artificial intelligence plans that include a partnership with an industry leader — but it reportedly doesn’t plan to pay for the technology, at least not with money.
At its Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, Apple announced it is putting OpenAI’s latest version of ChatGPT into the iPhone, iPad, and Mac operating systems. However, Apple doesn’t plan to pay OpenAI for the chatbot, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. Neither Apple nor OpenAI are due to generate any meaningful revenue from the partnership for now, people said.
The iPhone-maker reportedly thinks exposing OpenAI’s technology through its products is equal to, or even greater than, monetary value, people told Bloomberg. Neither Apple nor OpenAI immediately responded to a request for comment.
While Apple benefits from being able to provide its customers with one of the most advanced chatbot on the market for free, the partnership could prove expensive for OpenAI, as as the company pays Microsoft to host the chatbot on its cloud-computing system. With potentially millions more Apple customers opting in, these costs will go up. But OpenAI and Apple could convert Apple users to pay for subscriptions that give them more capabilities, which could make money for both companies.
Apple is still in discussions with Google to offer its Gemini chatbot as an option, as well as AI startup Anthropic, which has the Claude chatbot, people told Bloomberg. The company reportedly plans to offer different AI services to its customers, then make money from revenue-sharing agreements with the providers.
In addition to the OpenAI partnership, Apple unveiled its own AI initiative, Apple Intelligence (aptly shortened to AI), with features for its native apps including Safari, Notes, Calculator, and Siri.