Apple No Longer in Talks to Invest in ChatGPT Maker OpenAI

[MacRumors]

Apple has reportedly exited negotiations to invest in OpenAI, the company behind the popular ChatGPT AI chatbot, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Apple had been in discussions to participate in a funding round for OpenAI that is expected to raise approximately $6.5 billion. However, Apple recently dropped out of the talks for reasons that remain unclear. The funding round is set to close this week.

The development comes just a month after WSJ reported that Apple was considering an investment in OpenAI as part of a fundraising effort that could value the AI company at over $100 billion. The high valuation reflects the intense competition in the artificial intelligence sector that OpenAI helped ignite with ChatGPT's launch in late 2022.

While Apple has stepped away, other major tech companies remain involved. Microsoft, which has already invested $13 billion in OpenAI, is expected to contribute about $1 billion to this latest round. Nvidia is also reportedly in talks to participate.

The news of Apple's withdrawal may surprise some, given the company's recent moves in the AI space. Apple previously announced plans to integrate ChatGPT into Siri on iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia later this year. This integration will allow Siri to display ChatGPT responses directly with user permission. However, recent reports of turmoil within OpenAI's ranks as it pursues a for-profit structure, may have factored into Apple's decision not to pursue the investment.

That said, Apple's planned ChatGPT integration for its platforms is still expected to proceed before the end of the year. The company has said that iPhone, iPad, and Mac users will be able to use ChatGPT for free without creating an account, while ChatGPT Plus subscribers will be able to access paid features on Apple devices.

Article Link: Apple No Longer in Talks to Invest in ChatGPT Maker OpenAI

 

[winxmac]

Goodbye Apple intelligence

 

[madmin]

They tried but nobody else was ok with OpenAI meaning Open Apple Intelligence 🤷

 

[iZac]

Perhaps with all the difficulties Apple are having implementing AI partners in different territories, they're simply going to make their own. Plus now OpenAI is a for-profit company, their fees will likely skyrocket.

Maybe it will be a brain scan of Steve Jobs and will just berate users for not using the device correctly.

 

[timber]

Apple has been known for usually not depending on anyone for technology they consider essential.

 

[cjsuk]

It's a dead end. They are distancing themselves from it.

Also note that CA vetoed the AI safety bill as it was pushed/sponsored by vendors and not independent or scientific. That's a big damage multiplier for the grift to fall.

Eventually we'll get a sensible end game out of this and I'm sure Apple will be at the front of "things reasonable"

 

[DBZmusicboy01]

AI is the worst thing that has happened to Tech the past 2 years. Apple should had just focused solely on Siri. That alone would had been significantly better than using tech that is very dangerous for the masses.
We need iOS 6 style of refinement 🥺 but perfected even more. Instead of this iOS 18 mess.

 

[Mr_Ed]

Goodbye Apple intelligence

Hello Apple Ignorance 😆

 

[L92]

Good. It's not a good look to invest in someone who's entire value is based on stolen content. Their partnership is weird as it is.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

"They want to be paid well for their technology??? Who do they think they are: US???

Hmmmm, we'll just do A.I. models from scratch ourselves. How hard can it be?

Look how fast we were able to engineer our own cellular modem. Look how fast we were able to get Maps up to par with Google Maps. Put the Modem team and Maps team in an Apple car and drive over to the Siri team to work together to develop a better A.I. model in 12... no 6... no 3 months."

 

[cjsuk]

AI is the worst thing that has happened to Tech the past 2 years. Apple should had just focused solely on Siri. That alone would had been significantly better than using tech that is very dangerous for the masses.
We need iOS 6 style of refinement 🥺 but perfected even more. Instead of this iOS 18 mess.

That's all they need to do with the Apple AI stuff.

They are really on the right track with their other stuff. I hope they deliver. What excites me is that unlike the far fetched claims, the following things are actually feasible to do on local devices without the big LLM grifters:

1. Get Siri's level of understand on local devices from its current subpar implementation to something competent.
2. The "personal context" stuff integrated i.e. local data sources and correlation of data.
3. Pull in some data from elsewhere, mostly data like transport / flights / weather etc.

Anything else, including literally everything "generative" that is being promoted is detrimental.

 

[ryan102]

AI is the biggest con going. They're about to roll out to bloatware on all the new phones.

We can add this to their pile of recent failures such as Airpower, VisionPro, Apple Car. They just seem to sit in Apple HQ and think 'I just came up with a great idea' and they throw billions at it and then realise later on it wasn't a good idea.

 

[thecivilengineer]

As an Apple stockholder (via index funds), this seems foolish as the value of their investment in OpenAI is almost guaranteed to print significant sums of money over time. Even if they sold their stake after just a couple of years.

And FWIW, I think AI will be as ubiquitous as the internet in 20 years, and this current aversion to AI will be laughable when everyone is using it daily.

 

[Fraserpatty]

wonder if this has anything to do with Apple no longer having a seat on the board.

 

[Colpeas]

AI is the worst thing that has happened to Tech the past 2 years. Apple should had just focused solely on Siri. That alone would had been significantly better than using tech that is very dangerous for the masses.
We need iOS 6 style of refinement 🥺 but perfected even more. Instead of this iOS 18 mess.

Then Apple couldn't market it as a brand-new groundbreaking feature that should make everybody go head over heels to upgrade their phones.
I agree that the best thing Apple could do for their customers is to focus on refinement, make their OSs rock solid and ignore all the trash talkers who always say that "apple doesn't know how to innovate anymore". The bad thing, though, is that they cannot afford to do it. How would they push the users to buy new stuff if their old devices worked great?
I sooo miss the Steve Jobs era. OSs like Snow Leopard and iOS6 could never see the light of day under Tim "the Beancounter" Cook's presidency.

 

[coffeemilktea]

However, Apple recently dropped out of the talks for reasons that remain unclear.

I imagine seeing several OpenAI executives leaving one after the other was pretty clear.

OpenAI is very impressive technologically, but Apple execs must have figured something was wrong considering the exodus of big names leaving OpenAI this year.

 

[klasma]

Apple has been known for usually not depending on anyone for technology they consider essential.

Well. They are depending on chip manufacturing, displays, camera sensors, batteries, RAM, SSDs, and cloud storage from other companies. Without them Apple couldn’t achieve much.

 

[Shirasaki]

With the true reason unknown, it is going to be hard to gauge how things will go. But, Apple is already late to this generative AI thing. Will they invest in some form of AI that can build stuff on their own without trillions of GB of data? That is, replicating a human brain. 🧠
Gotta be interesting to see.

 

[dominiongamma]

Thinking ChatGPT regrets doing business with Apple. I feel Apple doesn’t know what to do next with products and software, refreshing product's every year won’t be enough

 

[Isamilis]

I will hold iOS 18 update then.

 

[Compote]

"Sounds like a wonderful idea" is the new "everybody's so creative".

 

[PsykX]

Goodbye Apple intelligence

ChatGPT is 1 out of like 20 Apple Intelligence features announced.
I don't know why people think Apple Intelligence IS ChatGPT & OpenAI.

 

[dominiongamma]

ChatGPT is 1 out of like 20 Apple Intelligence features announced.
I don't know why people think Apple Intelligence IS ChatGPT & OpenAI.

When Apple advertises and promotes it then people will expect it work, and work well. But Apple lately is know to talk about features about not including them in one update, but multiple through the year.

 

[Shere Khaan]

I imagine seeing several OpenAI executives leaving one after the other was pretty clear.

OpenAI is very impressive technologically, but Apple execs must have figured something was wrong considering the exodus of big names leaving OpenAI this year.

Plus Sam Altman is developing a Messah complex. Too many megalomanaics spoil the brew.

 

[kamyk35]

Apple has reportedly exited negotiations to invest in OpenAI, the company behind the popular ChatGPT AI chatbot, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Apple had been in discussions to participate in a funding round for OpenAI that is expected to raise approximately $6.5 billion. However, Apple recently dropped out of the talks for reasons that remain unclear. The funding round is set to close this week.

The development comes just a month after WSJ reported that Apple was considering an investment in OpenAI as part of a fundraising effort that could value the AI company at over $100 billion. The high valuation reflects the intense competition in the artificial intelligence sector that OpenAI helped ignite with ChatGPT's launch in late 2022.

While Apple has stepped away, other major tech companies remain involved. Microsoft, which has already invested $13 billion in OpenAI, is expected to contribute about $1 billion to this latest round. Nvidia is also reportedly in talks to participate.

The news of Apple's withdrawal may surprise some, given the company's recent moves in the AI space. Apple previously announced plans to integrate ChatGPT into Siri on iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia later this year. This integration will allow Siri to display ChatGPT responses directly with user permission. However, recent reports of turmoil within OpenAI's ranks as it pursues a for-profit structure, may have factored into Apple's decision not to pursue the investment.

That said, Apple's planned ChatGPT integration for its platforms is still expected to proceed before the end of the year. The company has said that iPhone, iPad, and Mac users will be able to use ChatGPT for free without creating an account, while ChatGPT Plus subscribers will be able to access paid features on Apple devices.

Article Link: Apple No Longer in Talks to Invest in ChatGPT Maker OpenAI

Open AI is just smoke & mirrors, I could say a lot worse about Sam Altman....
Apple have simply seen through it all and will go their own way, once they recruit some top engineers again, because their current recruitment strategy is definitely not working