OpenAI feels “burned” by Apple’s crappy ChatGPT integration, insiders say

Supposedly, OpenAI is still hoping to resolve its issues with Apple outside of court, if possible. But one option that OpenAI may pursue could be accusing Apple of a breach of contract. Going that route wouldn’t necessarily require filing a lawsuit right away, sources suggested. Apple and OpenAI did not respond to Ars’ request to comment. Most likely, OpenAI will delay approaching Apple until after its court battle with Elon Musk concludes, Bloomberg reported. A decision in that litigation is potentially coming next week. OpenAI also faces a court battle with Musk over its Apple deal. However, it may be inconvenient for Musk that tensions between OpenAI and Apple have grown since he filed a lawsuit last August. Musk alleged that the deal integrating ChatGPT into Apple products violated antitrust and unfair competition laws, supposedly propping up OpenAI to dominate the chatbot market and Apple the smartphone market. For Musk, it may become impossible to argue that OpenAI and Apple are colluding to keep Apple at the top of the smartphone market when OpenAI is working on its own device. And his arguments about ChatGPT’s supposed “exclusivity” are also falling apart, as Apple is now testing Siri integrations with Anthropic’s Claude and Google Gemini. OpenAI’s executive insisted to Bloomberg that OpenAI’s potential legal action has nothing to do with Apple expanding its AI partners, emphasizing that the deal was never intended to be exclusive. With tensions high, Apple and OpenAI would probably prefer to keep details about how the deal came together secret. However, although Musk’s lawsuit may be losing steam, it has recently succeeded in forcing Apple and OpenAI to be more transparent about the deal. This week, magistrate judge Hal Ray Jr. denied Musk’s request to see Tim Cook’s internal messages discussing the deal but ordered Apple to share documents by mid-June from Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi. Federighi “made high-level, strategic decisions about the Apple-OpenAI Agreement,” the judge noted, and “may have unique relevant evidence not already produced relating to Apple’s integration of OpenAI into Apple Intelligence.” Apple will also have to provide any “documents that refer to potential exclusivity clauses of the artificial intelligence provider for Apple products,” as Musk tries to keep his antitrust fight alive. It’s possible that OpenAI and Apple will make up before Musk’s lawsuit heads to trial this fall. In June, Apple is expected to unveil a revamped Siri that could better promote ChatGPT in ways that resolve at least some of OpenAI’s concerns, Bloomberg reported. OpenAI maintains that Musk is distorting antitrust law as part of a “harassment campaign” attacking OpenAI to slow down its work, so that Musk’s xAI can catch up. Apple argued that a Musk win would devastate the tech industry by setting an alarming precedent that any deal with a supplier violates antitrust law if other proposals are rejected. Perhaps most damning for Musk’s case, both OpenAI and Apple have urged the court to agree that Musk cannot show harm since none of his firms make smartphones.