OpenAI Considers Legal Action Against Apple Over Underperforming Siri Partnership
Key Takeaways
- ▸OpenAI is considering legal action against Apple, potentially alleging breach of contract, after the ChatGPT-Siri partnership failed to meet revenue expectations
- ▸OpenAI expected billions in annual subscription revenue but the partnership generated significantly less, partly due to Apple's limited promotion and shallow ChatGPT integration into Siri
- ▸Users must explicitly request ChatGPT within Siri, and responses contain limited information compared to the standalone ChatGPT app, frustrating OpenAI's expectations for deep integration
Summary
OpenAI is considering taking legal action against Apple due to a strained partnership that integrated ChatGPT into Siri and other Apple products. According to Bloomberg, the 2024 deal has significantly underperformed OpenAI's expectations, failing to generate the billions in annual subscription revenue executives anticipated. OpenAI claims Apple has provided insufficient promotion, shallow integration, and has kept the company in the dark about implementation details.
OpenAI executives describe the partnership as a "failure," citing Apple's requirement that users explicitly invoke ChatGPT within Siri, limited information in ChatGPT responses shown in Siri compared to the standalone app, and Apple's lack of prominent placement for the integration. Despite OpenAI's efforts to renegotiate the deal, talks have stalled. The company is now weighing options from sending Apple a letter alleging breach of contract to pursuing formal legal action, though it still hopes to resolve the dispute outside of court.
The dispute underscores broader tensions in AI partnerships as companies scale integrations with Apple, which is preparing iOS 27 to support competing AI services from Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude. This suggests Apple views ChatGPT as one option among many rather than a strategically central component of its AI roadmap.
- Upcoming iOS 27 will support competing AI chatbots from Google and Anthropic, indicating Apple is not positioning ChatGPT as central to its AI strategy
