Apple partners with OpenAI to roll out new artificial intelligence system

Apple on Monday said it had partnered with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into its devices as it unveiled a new “Apple Intelligence” system in what chief executive Tim Cook called the “next big step” by the iPhone maker.

At the company’s annual developers conference, Cook and his team outlined upgrades to Apple’s software coming this year that will use AI to provide a smarter Siri voice assistant and more personalised features on its devices to enhance productivity.

This year’s Worldwide Developers Conference has been closely watched by investors to see how Cook will position Apple to take advantage of generative AI, amid concerns it is falling behind its Big Tech competitors.

Tech giants including Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta are racing to develop new products using AI while also competing with — or in some cases, partnering with — start-ups focused on the technology. Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI.

The OpenAI partnership will feed into Apple’s own proprietary generative AI features, which it has dubbed “Apple Intelligence”. Cook described it as a “new personal intelligence system” based on Apple’s own generative AI models and customised to the user.

Siri will be able to ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT questions, tapping into the power of its models — although the voice assistant will ask permission from the user before communicating with the chatbot.

Apple users will not need a subscription to access the feature. This will allow for “seamless integration” while ensuring that “you are in control of when ChatGPT is used”, said Craig Federighi, Apple senior vice-president of software engineering.

Siri will also be able to carry out more detailed actions on Apple’s native apps, with new tools allowing third-party developers to tap into these features.

Apple emphasised that its approach to AI would be focused on protecting user privacy, with models running locally on devices and on its cloud servers, and powered by its chips. Cook described its method of training AI features on a user’s personal data without it leaving the device as “AI as only Apple can deliver it”.

“It’s aware of your personal data without collecting your personal data,” said Federighi.

Apple’s executive team showcased other generative AI features that will be available on iOS 18, the latest version of its iPhone operating system, as well as on the iPad and the Mac later this year, including image generation and custom emojis.

“Apple Intelligence should help placate nervous investors and reassure them that Apple is keeping pace with its rivals,” said CCS Insight analyst Leo Gebbie. “The partnership with ChatGPT is a major development which beefs up Apple’s AI offerings, and new features like a significantly improved Siri will be welcome to users.”

But Tesla chief executive and X owner Elon Musk was quick to sound the alarm over the partnership, warning that he would ban Apple devices at his companies “if Apple integrates with OpenAI at the [operating system] level”, which he said would be “an unacceptable security violation”.

Musk has a fractious history with OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman. He was one of OpenAI’s founders before leaving the company in 2018. He has sued OpenAI, accusing it of abandoning its original mission to benefit humanity.

Musk, who has his own AI start-up xAI, is also a sometime critic of Apple, which pulled advertising funding from X late last year after Musk endorsed an antisemitic post.

This year’s conference was widely expected to be AI-focused as Apple looks to leverage one of the hottest tech trends to generate investor and consumer enthusiasm. But market reaction was tepid, with its shares down 1.9 per cent on the day.

Attendees were directed into Apple Park under the morning sun by whooping and applauding Apple employees in pink T-shirts. The multistorey glass doors of the company’s vast cafeteria were opened to create seating space for hundreds of guests at the event, which was held on an outdoor stage.

The presentation opened with a slickly produced video of Federighi and a team of Apple employees skydiving from a plane dressed in white Apple-branded jumpsuits.

Altman was spotted at Apple’s event, but did not join Cook onstage for the announcement of the partnership. OpenAI has become one of the dominant forces in generative AI with its ChatGPT product, sending its valuation above $80bn.

Earlier on Monday, OpenAI announced it had hired former Nextdoor chief executive Sarah Friar as its chief financial officer, and Kevin Weil — who previously held jobs at Facebook, Instagram and Twitter — as chief product officer.

Apple also announced it would be bringing its Vision Pro headset, released in the US in February, to international markets. Pre-orders will be able to be made in China, Japan, Singapore, the UK, France, Germany, Canada and Australia this month.