This week’s WWDC unveiled a notable partnership between Apple and OpenAI, highlighting ChatGPT’s integration into Apple’s ecosystem. However, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, this collaboration doesn’t involve any financial transactions between the two companies. Apple values the significant exposure OpenAI will gain by being accessible on millions of Apple devices, considering it as valuable, if not more so, than monetary compensation.
Bloomberg’s report also reveals that this arrangement with OpenAI is not exclusive. Apple is also in discussions with other AI companies like Anthropic and Google to feature their chatbots as alternative options. An agreement with Google for its Gemini chatbot is anticipated later this year. In the meantime, users will be able to direct specific queries to OpenAI’s GPT-4o model on iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia. Apple’s broader goal is to provide a variety of third-party AI services, similar to how Safari offers different search engine choices.
To monetize these partnerships, Apple plans to implement revenue-sharing agreements. This approach would involve taking a percentage of the revenue from any AI provider that monetizes its chatbot services, such as the $20-per-month ChatGPT Plus subscription.
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Tim Cook expressed uncertainty about Apple’s ability to completely eliminate AI hallucinations. Additionally, Apple foresees chatbots and large language models potentially diverting users from traditional search engines. This shift poses a risk to the lucrative deal with Google, which pays Apple billions to remain the default search engine on iPhones. Revenue-sharing agreements might help offset any losses from this changing landscape.
Apple’s venture into AI, marked by the Apple Intelligence initiative and its partnership with OpenAI, represents a significant step in its strategy. Although it’s still in the early stages, the company plans to expand Apple Intelligence to support more languages beyond American English next year. Furthermore, Apple is considering partnerships with Chinese tech giants Baidu and Alibaba to provide chatbot features in China, where ChatGPT access is restricted.
