Tech Desk 
May 30, 2024
While it has been working to expand its virtual assistant, Siri, Apple has recently partnered with OpenAI, the developer behind ChatGPT, to make it more responsive. The collaboration has provoked Microsoft for being the biggest backer as well as a recipient of OpenAI's AI technology.
Apple and OpenAI have been in talks since last year, and their deal is expected to be announced at the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024.
According to the rumours surfacing, Apple employees met with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and other team members last year to discuss the possible integration of OpenAI's technology into Apple's operating system.
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The partnership aims to improve Siri's capabilities, enabling it to answer more complex questions and even act as a chatbot. OpenAI has demonstrated how its technology can enhance Siri's responsiveness, natural language understanding and real-time translation capabilities. Apple wants to ensure transparency when developing Siri responses using OpenAI's technology.
Why is Microsoft worried?
Meanwhile, Microsoft, which has a significant investment in OpenAI, is concerned about the partnership. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella met with Altman to discuss concerns about handling server demand and potential competition with Apple's AI capabilities. Despite this, Microsoft will likely benefit financially from the partnership.
Interestingly, Apple also explored a deal with Google to integrate its Gemini technology into iOS 18 but ultimately chose to partner with OpenAI. Additionally, Apple is developing its own language model to handle simple tasks offline.
The first glimpse of iOS 18's new AI features will be revealed at WWDC 2024 on June 10. This collaboration has the potential to revolutionise Siri and AI technology in general, and we can expect exciting developments in the coming weeks.
