Apple has asked a court to dismiss a lawsuit brought by xAI CEO Elon Musk. Musk claims that Apple intentionally designed the agreement with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into iOS to stifle Gen AI competition. Apple’s goal is to improve Apple Intelligence with third-party Gen AI tools.
“Apple stated in court filings that it is ‘widely known’ that it intends to partner with other generative AI chatbots.”
Apple’s argument gels with comments made by Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. Pichai said he is working on a deal to add Gemini to iOS. The Bloomberg reports, “Pichai said he held a series of conversations with Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook across 2024 and he hopes to have a deal done by the middle of this year.”
Apple introduced the OpenAI integration into iOS 18.2 almost a year ago. Apple Intelligence has not been a winner for Apple. It hopes integration with third parties changes that.
Apple says that if Musk’s lawsuit succeeds it would require it to partner with other chatbot providers “regardless of quality, privacy or safety considerations, technical feasibility, stage of development, or commercial terms.”
The courts are yet to rule on Apple’s request to toss Musk’s case to the legal scrap heap. But it’s clear that Apple has abandoned plans to go it completely alone when it comes to boosting iOS’ AI capability.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.