OpenAI is so frustrated with Apple over a ChatGPT integration that failed to attract the subscribers and prominence it hoped for, that the company is now actively exploring legal action against the iPhone maker. Bloomberg News reported Thursdayciting people familiar with the matter.
According to Bloomberg, OpenAI has hired an outside law firm to analyze its options, which could include sending Apple a formal notice of breach of contract without necessarily escalating to a full lawsuit (at least not immediately). Any legal action would likely wait until after the conclusion of OpenAI’s ongoing trial with Elon Musk.
Still, it’s a reminder of how difficult a partner can be for major software companies. The iPhone is a hugely attractive platform for growth, but it is entirely under Apple’s control, and the companies that build it are invited only. From Google to Adobe, there’s a long history of Apple showing guests the door when they seem too comfortable.
TechCrunch has contacted OpenAI and Apple for comment.
The OpenAI partnership, announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2024, brought ChatGPT to Apple operating systems as an option within Siri and as part of the iPhone’s Visual Intelligence feature (allowing users to use their camera to analyze their surroundings and send photos to ChatGPT with related questions).
OpenAI, along with industry observers, hoped the deal would eventually funnel billions of dollars into new subscriptions and give the company prime space in one of the world’s most used mobile ecosystems. Instead, Bloomberg reports, OpenAI has grown increasingly aggravated, complaining that the integration has been buried, that its features are hard to find, and that the alliance’s revenue is nowhere near projections. “They basically said, ‘OpenAI needs to take a leap of faith and trust us,'” an OpenAI executive told Bloomberg. “It didn’t work out well.”
Apple, for its part, has its own complaints, including concerns about OpenAI’s privacy standards and, according to Bloomberg, irritation over OpenAI’s advance in hardware, an effort led by former Apple executives, including former design chief Jony Ive.
Either way, OpenAI is not the first Apple partner to regret joining the company. Apple has a long history of accepting partners and then alienating them. The most famous case is Google Maps, which was a flagship feature of the original iPhone. It was so central to the device’s appeal that its removal in 2012, replaced by Apple’s notably inferior Apple Maps product, became one of the biggest tech fiascos of the decade, prompting a rare public apology from CEO Tim Cook. Friction between the two companies had been building for years at that point, thanks to the launch of Google’s Android phone a year after the iPhone debuted in 2007; After then-Google CEO Eric Schmidt resigned from Apple’s board of directors in 2009, that rivalry only intensified.
Adobe also has some scar tissue. Steve Jobs refused to support Flash on iPhone and iPad, publishing a famous open letter in 2010 explaining why and effectively condemning the technology. Flash never regained its place on mobile devices.
Then there’s Spotify, which I spent years arguing that Apple took advantage of its control over the App Store to disadvantage rival music streaming services after launching Apple Music in 2015. The European Commission agreed and fined Apple almost 1.8 billion euros in March 2024.
Sometimes these divisions can be overcome in the name of commercial interests. Google is now Apple’s AI infrastructure partner, having achieved a multi-year agreement in January to power the next generation of Apple Intelligence with Gemini models. Apple pays Google approximately $1 billion a year.
Meanwhile, OpenAI has had its own share of strained relationships lately. Elon Musk lawsuit against the company, which accuses OpenAI of abandoning its founding mission as a non-profit and operating in bad faith – is currently on trial.
The company has also reportedly navigated tensions with Microsoft, its biggest backer and infrastructure partner, as it seeks greater independence ahead of its own IPO ambitions.
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