The Apple and OpenAI relationship may be showing signs of strain

If you’ve ever jumped headlong into a relationship that didn’t turn out to be all you hoped it would, the latest developments in the Apple-OpenAI partnership might sound familiar. The AI revolution pushed Big Tech into some very fast courtships, and Apple’s ChatGPT deal may be turning into one of the messier ones. What once looked like an easy win for both sides reportedly hasn’t delivered the huge upside OpenAI expected, and the company is now weighing legal options against Apple.

According to Bloomberg, OpenAI lawyers are working with an outside legal firm on possible options, including sending Apple a notice alleging breach of contract. No final decision has apparently been made, and the report emphasizes that OpenAI still hopes to resolve the dispute without going to court.

The issue seems to be that OpenAI expected a lot more from the deal. When the partnership was first announced in 2024, it gave Apple a quick way to plug ChatGPT into Siri and Apple Intelligence while its own AI efforts were still catching up. OpenAI reportedly expected that its huge Apple audience would translate into more ChatGPT subscriptions, deeper integration across Apple apps, and prominent placement in Siri.

Instead, OpenAI executives reportedly feel Apple’s implementation has been limited, hard to find, and under-promoted. One unnamed OpenAI executive quoted in the report didn’t exactly sound thrilled, saying, “We have done everything from a product perspective. They have not, and worse, they haven’t even made an honest effort.”

ChatGPT is currently available through Apple features such as Siri, Writing Tools, Visual Intelligence, and Image Playground, but Bloomberg says OpenAI’s own studies found Apple customers are far more likely to use the standalone ChatGPT app than Apple’s built-in version. Part of the problem, according to the report, is that people often need to explicitly ask Siri for ChatGPT, while responses within Apple’s interface are more limited than in OpenAI’s own app.

The timing is also a little awkward. Apple has already confirmed that it is working with Google to use Gemini models in Siri and Apple Intelligence, and Apple is also exploring a possible partnership with Anthropic. OpenAI reportedly says a broader AI lineup is not the reason for the possible legal action, since its Apple deal was never meant to be exclusive. Still, perhaps it was envisaged that ChatGPT would be a cornerstone of the iOS experience by now.

Apple has already had plenty of AI headaches, including delayed Siri features and a recent $250 million settlement over claims it falsely advertised some Apple Intelligence capabilities. Everything in the tech world has seemed pretty hasty since ChatGPT burst onto the scene, so maybe we’ll see more such reality checks emerge in the coming years.