Apple is reportedly joining the board of OpenAI as part of an AI partnership announced at WWDC 2024

Apple is taking its artificial intelligence (AI) partnership with OpenAI to the next level by joining the startup’s board. According to a report by The Bloomberg, Apple’s App Store chief and former marketing head Phil Schiller will serve as a board observer. The move comes after Apple announced it will offer OpenAI’s ChatGPT on its devices.

As a board observer, Schiller will attend meetings but will not have voting rights. This role will give Apple insight into OpenAI’s decision-making process, similar to Microsoft, which is already an observer and a major supporter of OpenAI.

This partnership could create some complications, as Microsoft and Apple are rivals and partners in different fields. Apple may have to keep Schiller out of certain discussions to avoid a conflict of interest.

Schiller’s experience as a brand steward and his current role overseeing the App Store make him well-suited for the supervisor’s job. Apple’s AI strategy includes both in-house features and partnerships such as OpenAI.

The integration of OpenAI’s technology into Apple devices is a significant development in the AI ​​field. Although no financial arrangement has yet been reached between the two companies, OpenAI will gain access to hundreds of millions of potential users and Apple will provide a chatbot feature that many consumers want.

The partnership is part of Apple’s broader AI efforts, which include enhancing its Siri digital assistant and developing new features such as Apple Intelligence, which summarizes articles and information, creates custom emojis and illustrations, and transcribes voice memos.

During WWDC 2024, Apple said it would integrate ChatGPT into its iOS, iPadOS, and macOS platforms, giving users seamless access to ChatGPT’s capabilities without having to switch between different tools. This integration will enhance the user experience by providing advanced image and document understanding features directly within Apple’s ecosystem.

Apple’s virtual assistant Siri will also benefit from this integration. It will be able to use ChatGPT’s intelligence to answer user queries more effectively. Importantly, users will have control over this feature, as they will be asked for permission before sending any questions, documents, or photos to ChatGPT. Once consent is granted, Siri will present answers directly to users.

In addition to improving Siri, ChatGPT will be incorporated into Apple’s systemwide writing tools. This means users will be able to more efficiently create content for a variety of writing tasks. In addition, ChatGPT’s image generation tools will be accessible, allowing users to create images in different styles to complement their writing projects.