Why Apple has turned to OpenAI

Apple is baking OpenAI’s ChatGPT into its next operating system in an effort to catch up with the rest of Silicon Valley. From the autumn, Apple users will have access to ChatGPT via Siri, the virtual personal assistant, as well as other AI-powered features. It’s part of Apple’s solution to a difficult year: after a decade as the world’s largest company by market capitalisation, Apple lost the top spot to Microsoft in January and fell into third place behind Nvidia, the chip maker, in June. Its reputation for protecting privacy means it prefers on-device processing – what happens on the iPhone stays on the iPhone – and the new “Apple Intelligence” system is on-device only, says Craig Federighi, senior VP of software. Criticism has been swift even so: Tesla’s Elon Musk has called the OpenAI integration a security violation and threatened to ban iPhones from his companies if it goes ahead.

Further listening: Crushed! Apple’s Big Brother moment