Cutting corners: It’s easy to imagine that Apple’s partnership with OpenAI could be worth millions, if not billions, of dollars. However, according to a report, Apple won’t be paying Sam Altman’s company anything to bring ChatGPT to Apple platforms. Instead, Cupertino has leveraged its market position to convince OpenAI that the extra exposure from device integration is worth more than money.
Apple announced at WWDC that its Apple Intelligence features would be arriving in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia this fall. OpenAI’s GPT-4o LLM will power some of the AI tasks, including the option to use ChatGPT to help Siri answer user queries – much to the annoyance of Elon Musk.
Microsoft has invested $13 billion in OpenAI, so it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that Apple had paid the company a hefty sum to use its technologies. Bloomberg reports that no details of the financial terms were released, but according to its sources, Apple isn’t paying OpenAI.
The deal could eventually benefit both tech giants financially. The ChatGPT integration on Apple products will be free to use, though subscribers will get all the usual extra benefits. If free users decide they want the extra perks and subscribe to OpenAI on an Apple device (via the ChatGPT app) using Apple’s payment platform, the company will get a cut.
Getting more people onto its subscription plans, which start at $20 per month, is obviously going to be an attractive prospect for OpenAI, too, especially when there are hundreds of millions of people around the world who use Apple devices.
In addition to the commission, the partnership will likely lead to some consumers wanting to buy a new iPhone/iPad/Mac – Apple Intelligence is only compatible with the iPhone 15 Pro, and M-series iPads and Macs. Meanwhile, current owners may end up spending more time on the devices, interacting with the new features.
Bloomberg notes that until it starts making money from new subscribers, the partnership with Apple could be costly for OpenAI. Those who are able and willing to use ChatGPT via Apple devices will be adding to OpenAI’s computing budget.
According to the publication’s sources, Apple aims to increase its earnings from AI by creating revenue-sharing agreements with partners. The idea is that it gets a cut from partners that monetize results in chatbots on Apple’s operating systems, as Cupertino believes more people will start using AI rather than search engines. This could help Apple make up the money it loses from its search deal with Google.
Apple hasn’t yet announced any future AI partners. It is believed to be in talks with Google to offer Gemini as an additional option to its device users. It has also held talks with Anthropic as a potential chatbot partner. The ultimate goal is to offer a range of AI services, much like choosing a search engine.
