Tech Desk
Sep 28, 2024
Tech leaders are battling the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence and its offspring. OpenAI appears to be closing a massive funding round of $6.5 billion by next week. However, in a surprising twist, Apple has dropped out of the investment talks.
OpenAI's funding round, which is expected to close next week, has garnered significant attention. Microsoft, an existing investor, would invest a further $1 billion in this round and hike its shareholding in OpenAI.
Nvidia may also join the funding round. Apple's withdrawal comes after reports last month indicated the company's interest in investing.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple fell out of talks to participate in the funding round. The reasons behind this decision remain unclear.
In such a scenario, this would be a rather unusual investment for Apple, since the company avoids other key Silicon Valley firms.
Apple's withdrawal would not affect the funding round of OpenAI as the investments through Microsoft and Nvidia would be enough. But this could affect Apple's AI ambitions.
The company would continue to integrate ChatGPT in iOS 18 free of cost but leveraging the AI tech.
Apple and OpenAI are collaborating to integrate ChatGPT into iOS 18. ChatGPT shall handle world knowledge requests alongside Siri.
Notably, Apple won't pay OpenAI for this partnership, considering the exposure as "of equal or greater value" than cash.
OpenAI's structural changes continue, with former Apple designer chief Jony Ive working on an AI hardware product. This partnership may transform innovative AI-driven designs.
