OpenAI considers legal action against Apple

OpenAI is considering legal action against Apple over the companies’ ChatGPT integration in Siri, according to a Bloomberg report published on May 14. The report said the relationship has become strained after OpenAI concluded the partnership did not deliver the subscriptions, product placement and broader integration it expected from Apple’s software ecosystem. Apple and OpenAI announced the deal at WWDC in June 2024, when Apple said Siri would be able to hand some requests to ChatGPT and OpenAI said users could access ChatGPT inside Apple operating systems without switching apps. Bloomberg said OpenAI’s lawyers are working with an outside law firm on options that could include a formal breach-of-contract notice rather than an immediate lawsuit. Apple and OpenAI did not publicly announce any dispute on May 14, and TechCrunch said it had contacted both companies for comment. ### What exactly is OpenAI said to be angry about? (bloomberg.com) Bloomberg reported that OpenAI believed the Apple partnership would push large numbers of iPhone users toward paid ChatGPT subscriptions and give the chatbot more prominent placement inside Siri and other Apple software. Instead, 9to5Mac and MacRumors, both citing Bloomberg, said OpenAI came away dissatisfied with how visible the integration was and how little revenue it produced. (bloomberg.com) One unnamed OpenAI executive told Bloomberg that the startup had “done everything from a product perspective” while Apple had not made “an honest effort,” according to 9to5Mac and MacRumors. MacRumors said OpenAI had also tried to renegotiate the arrangement, but those talks stalled. ### How was the Siri-ChatGPT deal supposed to work? (bloomberg.com) Apple announced on June 10, 2024 that ChatGPT would be integrated into iOS, iPadOS and macOS as part of Apple Intelligence. Apple said Siri could present answers from ChatGPT directly and that users would be asked before questions, documents or photos were sent to OpenAI’s service. OpenAI said at the time that the arrangement would let Apple users access ChatGPT’s image and document understanding inside Apple experiences. (9to5mac.com) The 2024 rollout also gave iPhone users a path to subscribe to ChatGPT through Apple’s Settings app, with Apple taking a cut of that revenue, according to MacRumors. Bloomberg’s account, as relayed by 9to5Mac and MacRumors, said OpenAI thought that channel could eventually produce billions of dollars a year. ### Why does OpenAI think the integration fell short? (apple.com) MacRumors reported that Siri users must explicitly invoke “ChatGPT” to route some requests to OpenAI, and that responses shown inside Siri can be more limited than those in the standalone ChatGPT app. Bloomberg also said Apple’s secrecy around product plans left OpenAI without a clear picture of how deeply ChatGPT would be embedded across Apple devices. (9to5mac.com) TechCrunch said Bloomberg also described Apple as having its own frustrations, including concerns about OpenAI’s privacy standards and irritation over OpenAI’s move into hardware with former Apple executives including Jony Ive. That account was attributed to Bloomberg’s reporting and was not confirmed publicly by Apple. (macrumors.com) ### Is this about Apple adding other AI models to Siri? 9to5Mac and MacRumors both said OpenAI’s reported grievance is not that Apple may add rival models such as Google’s Gemini or Anthropic’s Claude. Both outlets, again citing Bloomberg, said the original arrangement was not meant to be exclusive. The dispute instead centers on whether Apple delivered the prominence and commercial opportunity OpenAI believed it had been promised, according to those reports. (techcrunch.com) Bloomberg said one possible next step is a breach notice that could be executed in the near future. ### What should readers watch next? Apple has scheduled WWDC26 for June 8 through June 12, 2026, according to its developer site and a March newsroom announcement. (9to5mac.com) Apple said the conference will reveal updates to its platforms, including AI-related features, while MacRumors reported OpenAI’s role in this year’s keynote is uncertain. June 8 is the next concrete date in the story. (bloomberg.com) If OpenAI sends Apple a formal notice, or if Apple outlines a new Siri strategy at WWDC26, that event is the likeliest place for the dispute’s practical consequences to become clearer. (developer.apple.com)