Cracks in Apple-OpenAI Relationship, Possibility of Legal Dispute Raised

The collaboration between Apple and OpenAI, signed in 2024, has grown increasingly strained as it failed to deliver the results either side had hoped for. OpenAI built ChatGPT into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS features such as Siri and Image Playground, and iPhone users could subscribe to ChatGPT through Settings, with Apple sharing in the revenue. However, OpenAI believes Apple did not adequately promote this, nor did it deepen the integration further.

What OpenAI had expected was subscription revenue in the range of billions of dollars annually, but the actual results fell far short of that level. Due to Apple's closed-off approach, OpenAI felt it lacked sufficient visibility into how ChatGPT would be positioned across iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and some within the company have come to view the partnership as a failure.

The core complaints are as follows.

• To get results from Siri, users must explicitly say or type "ChatGPT"
• Answers shown on the Siri screen are more limited in information than the ChatGPT app
• OpenAI believes awareness remained low because Apple did not actively promote the integration
• Renegotiation has stalled, and OpenAI is working with outside law firms to examine legal options such as a notice of contract breach

That said, OpenAI is also leaving the door open to resolving the issue outside of court, rather than heading straight to litigation. There is talk of other chatbots like Gemini or Claude potentially being included in iOS 27, but since the partnership was not exclusive to begin with, this is not the central issue.