In deal with OpenAI, Apple is courting Sam Altman 16 years after he appeared at WWDC

The OpenAI founder once promoted a different company at Apple’s 2008 developer conference, but the iPhone maker now needs the AI prowess of ChatGPT

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People try out the iPhone at an Apple Store in Beijing on September 28, 2021. Photo: AP

Published: 9:49pm, 5 Jun 2024

When a 23-year-old Sam Altman took the stage at Apple’s annual developer conference in 2008, he gushed about being able to use the company’s new App Store to promote his software, a friend-locating service called Loopt. “We think this is a new era of mobile, and we’re thrilled to be part of it,” Altman said.

Now, 16 years later, Apple is calling upon the entrepreneur again – but with a twist. This time, the company needs his help as much as he needs Apple.

Altman currently runs OpenAI, the leading start-up in generative artificial intelligence. And Apple, racing to catch up in that area, has forged a partnership to integrate OpenAI’s ChatGPT into the iPhone’s operating system. Though the controversial Altman is unlikely to take the stage at the event, the agreement will be a key focus of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference next week – and it shows just how much the power in Silicon Valley has shifted over the past few years.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the Microsoft Build conference at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, on May 21, 2024. Photo: AFP

The deal gives OpenAI access to hundreds of millions of Apple users, including ones that might have been hesitant to try ChatGPT otherwise. For Apple, the arrangement brings the company the hottest technology of the AI era – a chatbot with eerily powerful abilities – that it can pair with its own services.

Apple has been developing a host of AI features, including ones that run on its devices and others that require cloud computing. It’s also infusing its Siri digital assistant with AI. But the company’s own chatbot isn’t yet up to snuff.

The OpenAI partnership is likely a “short- to medium-term relationship” for Apple, said Dag Kittlaus, a tech veteran who co-founded and ran the Siri business before it was acquired by Apple. “But you can bet that they will be working hard building out their own competencies here.”

The WWDC keynote address, delivered by CEO Tim Cook on June 10, is seen as Apple’s biggest sales pitch in years. The company has to convince consumers, developers and investors that it can thrive in the AI era. And there’s added pressure because Apple’s existing business is stagnant, with revenue declining in five of the past six quarters.