Apple halts investment plans in OpenAI

The Wall Street Journal says the iPhone maker has dropped out of discussions about participating in OpenAI's upcoming funding round.

Apple is no longer in talks to join ChatGPT’s parent company’s funding round next week, according to people familiar with the matter, which is expected to raise $ 6.5 billion .

Other companies, such as Microsoft and Nvidia, are still in talks, with Microsoft expected to invest another $1 billion, on top of its $13 billion investment in OpenAI.

Last month, the WSJ reported that Apple was planning to invest in OpenAI. Next week’s funding round could value ChatGPT’s parent company at more than $100 billion.

Apple announced its relationship with OpenAI at WWDC 2024. Photo: Tuan Hung

Apple and OpenAI became a major partner in early June when they announced the integration of ChatGPT into Siri on iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia later this year. iPhone , iPad, and Mac users will be able to use ChatGPT for free without creating an account. Therefore, Apple may not have to pay for the deal because the two parties consider the inclusion of ChatGPT in iOS 18 to be "equal to or greater than cash value."

OpenAI's valuation skyrocketed after the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022. This created a global AI craze, sparking a wave of businesses investing billions of dollars in this technology to stay ahead of competition and increase market share.

This week, Reuters reported that OpenAI is discussing plans to restructure its company to attract more investors, which would mean it would no longer be a nonprofit and CEO Sam Altman would receive his first equity stake in the new company. OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit organization with the goal of developing AI that is safe and beneficial to humanity.