OpenAI is reportedly preparing legal action against Apple over their partnership to integrate ChatGPT with Siri, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The deal, announced in 2024 as part of iOS 18, was intended to weave OpenAI’s chatbot into Apple’s virtual assistant, providing users with advanced world-knowledge queries, image generation, and more. However, internal sources indicate that OpenAI is deeply dissatisfied with how the collaboration has unfolded, claiming that Apple has not upheld its end of the bargain.
Lawyers for OpenAI have been working with an outside legal firm to explore a range of options, which could include sending Apple a formal notice alleging breach of contract, a step that would precede a full lawsuit. The report states that “OpenAI believed that the companies’ partnership, which wove ChatGPT into Apple software, would coax more users into subscribing to the chatbot. It also expected deeper integration across more Apple apps and prime placement within the Siri assistant.” Instead, the integration has fallen short of these expectations, with an unnamed OpenAI executive claiming that “We have done everything from a product perspective. They have not, and worse, they haven’t even made an honest effort.”
The financial arrangement of the deal is unusual: no money is changing hands between Apple and OpenAI directly. Apple receives a cut of any ChatGPT subscriptions purchased through the Settings app on iPhone, but OpenAI has not paid Apple for access to its technology. OpenAI had reportedly anticipated that this subscription channel “could generate billions of dollars per year,” a forecast that has not materialized. The executive involved in the negotiations stated that when they first heard about the opportunity, it “sounded amazing: being able to acquire a giant number of customers and have distribution in such a big mobile ecosystem.” However, Apple was unwilling to share specific product details ahead of the deal, effectively asking OpenAI to “take a leap of faith and trust us.” That leap, the executive now says, ended up being a failure for the startup.
The tension comes at a critical time for Apple, just ahead of its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), where the company is expected to announce a next-generation version of Siri powered by Google Gemini. Reports also suggest that iOS 27 will allow users to integrate with other AI models, including Anthropic’s Claude. Interestingly, the OpenAI executive noted that Apple’s decision to open the iPhone to multiple AI providers is not the driver of the legal action, as the original partnership was never intended to be exclusive. The executive added, “We already took this leap of faith with you, and it didn’t work out well.”
Meanwhile, the relationship between the two companies has been further strained by OpenAI’s aggressive recruitment of Apple engineers. OpenAI is developing its own hardware products under the leadership of former Apple design chief Jony Ive, and has poached numerous Apple engineers for this effort. Apple executives have been “fuming for more than a year” over these recruiting tactics. The hardware initiative is still in early stages, but it underscores the deepening rivalry between the two firms.
The current integration of ChatGPT into iOS is extensive, but limited in impact. ChatGPT serves as a fallback for Siri on certain queries, powers image generation in Image Playgrounds, and enhances Visual Intelligence features. Yet, these capabilities have not translated into the massive subscriber growth OpenAI anticipated. The partnership was also seen as a way for Apple to quickly bolster Siri’s capabilities without developing its own large language model from scratch. However, with Apple now reportedly working with Google and Anthropic, it appears that the company is looking to diversify its AI partnerships, potentially diminishing OpenAI’s role even further.
Legal experts note that breach of contract claims can be complex in technology partnerships, especially when expectations are not explicitly spelled out in formal agreements. OpenAI would need to demonstrate that Apple failed to meet specific obligations, such as promoting ChatGPT subscriptions or providing the promised integration depth. The report indicates that no final decisions have been made, and OpenAI still hopes to resolve the issues outside of court. But the mere threat of litigation signals a major shift in the relationship between two of the most powerful companies in the tech industry.
The developments come as the AI landscape undergoes rapid transformation. Google’s Gemini is emerging as a leading competitor, and Anthropic’s Claude has also gained traction. Apple’s decision to integrate multiple models could give it greater leverage in negotiations, but it also risks fragmenting the user experience. For OpenAI, losing the preferential placement within Siri could be a significant blow to its consumer adoption strategy. The company has already invested heavily in ChatGPT branding and is now pivoting toward hardware, but its core business remains the subscription-based chatbot service.
This dispute also highlights the broader challenges of partnerships between large platform owners and smaller AI startups. Platform owners like Apple control access to millions of users, but they often dictate terms that favor their own strategic interests. Startups like OpenAI may find themselves in a position of dependency, unable to extract the value they anticipated. The outcome of this dispute could set a precedent for future AI integration deals, potentially giving startups more bargaining power or, conversely, making platforms more cautious about making promises they may not keep.
As the story unfolds, both companies are likely to leverage public opinion and regulatory scrutiny. Apple has faced antitrust investigations in multiple jurisdictions, and any legal action from OpenAI could attract further attention from regulators. OpenAI, for its part, is no stranger to high-stakes legal battles, having recently settled disputes with other firms over intellectual property. The coming weeks will be crucial as the parties decide whether to escalate the conflict or find a way to salvage the partnership.
In the larger picture, the Siri-ChatGPT integration was a landmark deal that symbolized the convergence of traditional mobile platforms with cutting-edge AI. Its failure to meet expectations reflects the difficulty of executing such integrations in a way that satisfies both parties. With Apple now moving toward a multi-model approach and OpenAI focusing on its own hardware, the once-promising collaboration may be remembered as a missed opportunity more than a successful venture. The tech world will be watching closely to see if legal action materializes, and if it does, how it reshapes the competitive dynamics of the AI assistant market.
Source: 9to5Mac News