OpenAI is helping Apple fix Siri, and that has Microsoft worried

We’ve been hearing a lot of rumors about Apple negotiating with OpenAI to use its GPT technology in iOS 18. Now a report from The Information has revealed that discussions have been going on since mid-2023, and Microsoft is worried about this deal between the two companies since it also relies on OpenAI.

Apple and OpenAI have been negotiating for a year

In a report on Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, The Information explored more details about the deal with Apple – which is expected to be unveiled to the world in less than two weeks at WWDC 2024. Apple has been working on new AI-based features for its operating systems, and OpenAI will play a big role in powering some of these features.

According to the report, Apple employees from the machine learning team met with Altman and other members of OpenAI in mid-2023, around last year’s WWDC. Although little is known about what exactly they discussed, both companies later reached a deal for Apple employees to have access to OpenAI APIs for internal testing.

“In those tests, Apple engineers connected ChatGPT to Siri, creating impressive demonstrations of Siri handling more complex queries than usual, including by better understanding the context of what users were saying,” the report says. 9to5Mac found evidence of Apple using such APIs in iOS 17.4 code.

The possibilities for Apple are endless, but sources familiar with the matter say that the company is focusing on using OpenAI technologies to make Siri answer more complex questions and even turn it into a chatbot. OpenAI showed Apple how Siri could become more responsive, natural, and even provide real-time translation using its APIs.

However, Apple wants to make it clear to users when a Siri response is generated by ChatGPT.

Microsoft is worried about this deal

The report also reveals that Microsoft has been concerned about the partnership between Apple and OpenAI. That’s because Microsoft also has a deal with OpenAI, which provides the technologies behind Microsoft Copilot while Microsoft lets OpenAI use its data centers to power ChatGPT.

Altman recently met with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to discuss these concerns. For instance, Microsoft is worried about handling the demand for servers when Apple launches new features for iPhone and iPad users. The company behind Windows also asked for a cut in future OpenAI profits in return for investing $13 billion in the startup.

On the one hand, Microsoft will probably end up making more money from the partnership between Apple and OpenAI. But at the same time, Apple’s AI capabilities will compete directly with Microsoft’s.

Apple also tried to reach a deal with Google to use Gemini in iOS 18 at the same time it was negotiating with OpenAI. Despite the deal, the company has also been working on its own language model that will run offline to handle simpler tasks, such as summarizing texts.

The first preview of iOS 18’s new AI features will be unveiled by Apple on June 10 at the WWDC 2024 kick-off event.