The relationship between Apple and OpenAI may be showing signs of strain

If you’ve ever dove headfirst into a relationship that didn’t turn out to be everything you expected, the latest developments in the Apple-OpenAI partnership may sound familiar. The AI ​​revolution pushed big technology companies into very rapid courtships, and Apple ChatGPT The agreement may be becoming one of the most complicated. What once seemed like an easy victory for both sides has reportedly not generated the big advantage OpenAI hoped for, and the company is now weighing legal options against Apple.

According BloombergOpenAI lawyers are working with an outside legal firm on possible options, including sending Apple a notice alleging breach of contract. No final decision has apparently been made and the report emphasizes that OpenAI still hopes to resolve the dispute without going to court.

The problem seems to be that OpenAI expected much more from the deal. When society was first announced in 2024It gave Apple a quick way to connect ChatGPT to Siri and Apple Intelligence while its own AI efforts were still catching up. OpenAI reportedly hoped its huge Apple audience would translate into more subscriptions to ChatGPT, deeper integration between Apple apps, and prominent placement in Siri.

Instead, OpenAI executives reportedly feel that Apple’s implementation has been limited, hard to find, and under-promoted. An anonymous OpenAI executive quoted in the report didn’t exactly seem enthusiastic, saying: “We’ve done everything from a product perspective. They haven’t, and worse, they haven’t even made an honest effort.”

ChatGPT is currently available through Apple features like Siri, Writing Tools, Visual Intelligence, and Image Playground, but Bloomberg says OpenAI’s own studies found that Apple customers are much more likely to use the standalone ChatGPT app than Apple’s built-in version. Part of the problem, according to the report, is that people often need to explicitly ask Siri for ChatGPT, while the responses within Apple’s interface are more limited than in the OpenAI app itself.

The moment is also a little awkward. Apple has already confirmed that it is working with Google to use Gemini models in Siri and Apple Intelligenceand Apple is also exploring a possible partnership with Anthropic. OpenAI reportedly says that a broader range of AI is not the reason for the potential legal action, as its deal with Apple was never intended to be exclusive. Still, it was perhaps foreseen that ChatGPT would be the cornerstone of the iOS experience at this point.

Apple has already had many problems with AI, including delayed Siri features and a recent $250 million settlement over claims that it falsely advertised some Apple Intelligence capabilities. Everything in the tech world has seemed pretty rushed since ChatGPT burst onto the scene, so perhaps we’ll see more reality checks emerge in the coming years.