What do you need to know
- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is reportedly concerned about the new OpenAI deal with Apple to bring AI capabilities to the iPhone.
- Nadella worries about the impact the deal will have on Microsoft’s products and services, which are already heavily infused with artificial intelligence capabilities.
- OpenAI seems to suit Apple as it launched its ChatGPT desktop app exclusively for Mac users and claims to prioritize where its users are.
Apple is expected to make its AI debut during its annual developer conference WWDC 2024, which is scheduled to be held on June 10, 2024. Reports suggest that Apple has recently signed an agreement with OpenAI that will bring advancements in AI, including ChatGPT for the iPhone as part of the long-awaited iOS 18 update. Interestingly, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that most of these AI-powered features will require sophisticated hardware and software consistent with the iPhone 15 Pro or later.
While it’s great to see Apple finally dabbling in AI, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is seemingly concerned about the iPhone maker’s deal with OpenAI. According to The Information, Nadel’s concerns center on the impact the deal could have on Microsoft’s future products and services.
OpenAI’s new contract with Apple is potentially worth billions of dollars, though it’s unclear whether that number will surpass Microsoft’s hefty $10 billion investment. As you may know, Microsoft uses OpenAI technology to power its flagship AI models such as Copilot. OpenAI, on the other hand, relies on Microsoft for its data centers.
Since the emergence of generative artificial intelligence, we have learned that it is a resource-intensive technology. And while it’s on the brink of the biggest technological revolution with AI, projections suggest there may not be enough power by 2025, although OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has looked to nuclear fusion as an alternative power source for AI.
In addition to power issues, the AI ​​consumes an exorbitant amount of water for cooling (up to 1 water bottle per query) coupled with high costs. OpenAI reportedly spends up to $700,000 a day to keep ChatGPT running.
Meanwhile, reports also suggest that Apple is also in talks with Google, which could potentially see its Gemini chatbot make its way to the iPhone as an option or alternative to ChatGPT/Siri.
OpenAI suits Apple
In the past few months, OpenAI has seemingly become more Apple-centric in terms of its advancements. For example, during the Spring Update event, the company introduced its new flagship model GPT-4o and announced the general availability of ChatGPT exclusively for Mac users, offending Windows despite Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar investment.
OpenAI indicated that the exclusive launch was its way of “prioritizing” where its users are. This suggests that the majority of its user base uses Apple devices. Elsewhere, Sam Altman made headlines for all the wrong reasons, including withholding important information from the board of a hot startup to the point that they learned of ChatGPT’s existence on Twitter. Former board members alleged that two OpenAI executives reported Altman for psychological abuse that created a “toxic atmosphere” at the company.
RELATED: Sam Altman is a master class genius strategist
To that end, Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI remains complicated at best. Insiders have voiced their concerns in the past, suggesting that Microsoft has seemingly turned itself into a glorified hot-start IT department. In suing OpenAI and Sam Altman for high treason, founder Elon Musk claimed that OpenAI had seemingly turned into a “de facto closed subsidiary of the largest technology company in the world.”
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has openly admitted in the past: “OpenAI would not exist without our early support.”
We were very confident in our abilities. We have all IP rights and all capabilities. I mean, look, if OpenAI goes away tomorrow, I don’t want any of our customers to worry about that, frankly, because we have every right to continue to innovate, not just serve products. But we can go and do what we did in the partnership on our own, and so we have the people, we have the computing, we have the data, we have everything.
Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella
It will be interesting to see how OpenAI’s new partnership will affect its ties with Microsoft once the announcement is made officially at the upcoming WWDC 2024 developer conference.