Ahead of iOS 18 integration with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple wants to invest, alongside Microsoft and Thrive Capital, on the company’s latest funding round.
This fundraising could increase ChatGPT maker value above $100 billion, although it’s unclear how much money Apple is expected to invest. Still, it makes sense why Apple wants to finance the company that will probably improve how iPhone users take advantage of Apple Intelligence, as the company’s own platform is still in the early days.
Back in June, during the WWDC 2024 keynote, Apple announced that when its Intelligence platform doesn’t feel enough for users, they would be able to let ChatGPT access Writing tools and other features to improve their experience.
For example, with user permission, Siri would be able to respond to answers that the personal assistant isn’t capable of, such as: “Create me a custom plan to run a marathon in six months.”
Apple’s partnership with OpenAI will offer GPT-4o model on its platforms for free and without requiring a login. However, if users want a more personalized experience, they would be able to log in to its OpenAI account with ChatGPT Plus subscription so they would be able to generate images and so on.
According to Apple, Apple Intelligence is only launching later this fall. At this moment, this platform is being tested by developers running iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1. This partnership with OpenAi is only expected to launch later this year, with other models available in the future.
That said, not only does Apple need to improve its AI platform, but the official integration will still take a while. Besides that, it’s been reported that both Apple and Microsoft were planning to be part of OpenAI’s board, but fearing regulators, they have decided not to take a significant role in the company.
