Apple No Longer in Talks to Invest in ChatGPT Maker OpenAI

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

iOS 18 ChatGPT
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.

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Top Rated Comments

L92 Avatar
19 weeks ago
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.
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
winxmac Avatar
19 weeks ago
Goodbye Apple intelligence
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cjsuk Avatar
19 weeks ago
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"
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
coffeemilktea Avatar
19 weeks ago

However, Apple recently dropped out of the talks for reasons that remain unclear.
I imagine seeing several OpenAI executives leaving one after the other ('https://apnews.com/article/openai-mira-murati-quits-df75217584696b442935dbccc9b0347d') was pretty clear. :p

OpenAI is very impressive technologically, but Apple execs must have figured something was wrong considering the exodus of big names leaving OpenAI this year.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ryan102 Avatar
19 weeks ago
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.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DBZmusicboy01 Avatar
19 weeks ago
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.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)