Apple has withdrawn from investment talks with OpenAI, developer of the popular ChatGPT artificial intelligence chatbot. According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple was expected to participate in a financing round in which OpenAI would raise approximately $6.5 billion, but the company recently abandoned these talks for unclear reasons. The financing round is scheduled to close this week.
This development comes just a month after The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Apple was considering participating in an investment round that could value OpenAI at more than $100 billion. This high valuation of OpenAI is seen as a reflection of the intense competition in the artificial intelligence field that started with the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022.
While Apple has stepped back, other major technology companies continue to take part in the talks. Microsoft, which previously invested $13 billion in OpenAI, is expected to contribute approximately $1 billion in this latest funding round. It is also reported that Nvidia is in talks to invest.
Apple’s withdrawal may surprise some, because the company has recently taken important steps in the field of artificial intelligence. Apple announced in recent months that it plans to integrate ChatGPT with Siri. ChatGPT is planned to be integrated into Siri with iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia updates. With this integration, Siri will be able to directly show ChatGPT responses when the user gives permission. However, OpenAI’s internal problems trying to transition to a for-profit structure may be one of the factors affecting Apple’s investment decision.
Apple and OpenAI collaboration continues
Despite this, the ChatGPT integration that Apple plans for its platforms is expected to be completed by the end of this year. The company announced that iPhone, iPad and Mac users can use ChatGPT for free, while ChatGPT Plus subscribers can access paid features on Apple devices.