Apple explores OpenAI partnership as internal AI efforts falter

Apple is reportedly considering partnering with OpenAI or Anthropic to power Siri after its own AI research efforts have failed to deliver promised features. The potential shift represents a major acknowledgment of defeat for one of the world’s largest tech companies, which has faced lawsuits from shareholders and customers over misleading claims about AI capabilities in the iPhone 16.

The big picture: Apple’s struggle to develop competitive AI technology internally has forced the company to reconsider its approach, potentially signaling broader skepticism about AI hype from a major industry player.

What went wrong: Apple’s promises about AI-powered Siri features have repeatedly fallen short since the iPhone 16’s September 2024 launch.

• The company promised customers a suite of “Apple Intelligence” features that would “roll out later this year and in the months following,” including an AI-powered Siri that could autonomously complete “mundane tasks.”
• Instead of delivering, Apple faced multiple lawsuits from shareholders and customers for misleading claims about the $799 phone’s capabilities.
• In early June, Apple announced it was delaying Siri’s AI update until at least 2026 to avoid further disappointing customers.

The partnership talks: Bloomberg reports that Apple has asked both OpenAI and Anthropic to train versions of their large language models to run on Apple’s cloud platform.

• Anonymous sources indicate Apple is likely testing these models for potential mass adoption.
• Anthropic appears to be the unofficial favorite, with sources noting that Siri chief Mike Rockwell and his team believe Claude would best align with Apple’s needs.

Why this matters: The move would represent a significant failure for Apple to keep pace with competitors in the AI race, potentially reshaping how the company approaches artificial intelligence development.

Apple’s broader AI skepticism: The company has shown increasing doubt about industry-wide AI claims and capabilities.

• In February, Apple announced a $500 billion investment in US tech manufacturing over four years, including a 250,000 square foot server facility in Houston and an engineering academy in Detroit.
• Apple’s Machine Learning Research lab released a white paper in June declaring that the AI industry was “massively overhyping” the abilities of top AI models.
• The research specifically challenged OpenAI’s claims that its chatbots can “reason,” a key selling point CEO Sam Altman uses to attract users.

What this signals: Apple’s potential pivot makes it the largest tech company to publicly second-guess the intense AI hype that has dominated the industry, though whether other companies will follow suit remains unclear.