Apple reportedly exploring partnership with Meta for AI features

Apple is reportedly planning to bring Meta Platforms’ artificial intelligence (AI) models to its devices and add them to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. During its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024, the Cupertino-based tech giant unveiled its own AI features under the umbrella of Apple Intelligence. It also announced the integration of ChatGPT into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, allowing users to call upon the services of the OpenAI chatbot to answer specific queries. According to a report, Meta AI could now also join the list of third-party AI chatbots powering Apple devices.

According to a report According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple recently held talks with Meta to explore a partnership between the two tech giants. The report, which cited anonymous people familiar with the matter, claimed the partnership could see Apple integrate the social media giant’s AI models into its devices’ operating systems, similar to the iPhone maker’s partnership with OpenAI.

The move doesn’t come as a surprise, as Apple has confirmed that it will explore the possibility of introducing more third-party AI models into its product ecosystem. Notably, an earlier report highlighted that Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude AI could be among the models that could also be integrated with iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices.

As Apple explains, the ChatGPT integration is positioned as an add-on service to its internal Apple Intelligence. Once the feature is released, users will be given the option to invoke the OpenAI chatbot’s services for a specific query that can be better handled by a large language model (LLM). However, users will not be required to create an OpenAI account to access the features. Furthermore, the iPhone maker has said that ChatGPT will not store user data after the query is executed (unless the user has voluntarily logged into their account).

An earlier report claimed that there was no monetary exchange for this partnership. It is said that Apple wants to use this integration to encourage more people to buy and upgrade their devices, while OpenAI will try to lure more people to ChatGPT’s paid subscription. It is unclear whether the Meta deal, if completed, will follow a similar structure.