The startup, which today generates roughly $2 billion in revenue per month and has a valuation of around $852 billion, feels cheated by how Apple has fulfilled the two-year ChatGPT-Siri partnership announced in 2024, according to sources.
The expected billions in subscription revenue reportedly "fell far short" of OpenAI's internal projections, the privileged position in the ecosystem of over a billion devices did not materialize, and executives are now considering steps ranging from a formal breach of contract notice to a lawsuit with an outside law firm.
How the deal was supposed to work and why OpenAI is pissed
The basic idea behind the deal was simple: Apple $AAPL integrated ChatGPT into Siri and other parts of the system, users could easily "snap on" a ChatGPT subscription through Apple's ecosystem, and the two companies split the revenue. Meanwhile, OpenAI internally reckoned that a privileged position on iOS - visibility in Siri, in settings, in native apps - would generate billions of dollars of annual business from Apple users alone.
The reality, according to OpenAI, looked different:
Users had to explicitly say "ChatGPT" in Siri to get to the OpenAI model at all
responses via Siri were truncated and less rich than in the standalone ChatGPT app
Deeper integration into other Apple apps, which OpenAI expected, did not come
According to OpenAI's internal studies, iOS users have made it clear that they prefer the standalone ChatGPT app over "over Siri" integration. From OpenAI's perspective, this means that Apple didn't deliver the most important thing - strong distribution and product integration that would have made the partnership a real "money fountain", not just a secondary entry point for a few early adopters.
A "leap of faith" without a safety net: how OpenAI describes Apple
One OpenAI executive told Bloomberg that Apple wanted the startup to "take a leap of faith and just trust them." He called the deal a "failure" and claims that OpenAI did its best from a product perspective, while Apple "didn't, and worse, didn't even make an honest attempt".
OpenAI executives, according to these sources, expected:
More prominent placement of ChatGPT within Siri (the default option, not a "summoned plugin")
deeper integration into system applications (Messages, Mail, Notes, etc.)
Visible marketing support at WWDC and in campaigns
OpenAI believes that Apple did not promote the integration enough - a large portion of users were reportedly unaware of ChatGPT's capabilities in Siri. Thus, from their perspective, the partnership failed not because people didn't want ChatGPT, but because Apple never really "pushed it forward."
What legal action OpenAI is considering
OpenAI has hired an outside law firm and is evaluating several possible steps. In the short term, it may be a formal notice of alleged breach of contract towards Apple without immediately filing a full-blown lawsuit.
Important points:
No final decision has been made yet
the company still hopes to resolve the dispute with Apple out of court
the legal analysis is running in parallel with OpenAI's preparations for a potential IPO and the dispute with Elon Musk
The latter is important - any major legal battle with Apple would reflect on OpenAI's risk profile at a time when it is trying to prove to investors that it can build stable, long-term commercial relationships with all the big players around it.
Apple, meanwhile, is opening up Siri to other AI models
The tension comes just ahead of WWDC, where Apple is expected to unveil a significantly revamped Siri powered by Google's Gemini $GOOG while also allowing the integration of other models, including Anthropic Claude. iOS 27 is expected to allow users to choose their preferred AI model for the assistant, according to leaked information, giving Siri the appearance of a "multi-provider" platform, not a single ChatGPT integration.
OpenAI claims that opening Siri to other providers is not the main reason for the legal action, as the partnership with Apple was never exclusive. But it also admits that after its experience with the first deal, it has no interest in participating in the next generation of integrations - it sees the relationship as broken and the economics of the original deal don't make sense, it says.
From Apple's perspective, diversification makes sense:
It reduces dependence on one AI partner
gives the impression of an "open" platform
strengthens its bargaining position vis-à-vis all AI providers
For OpenAI, it's another signal that without true "first-party" status (similar to Microsoft's), it will have a hard time positioning itself on iOS to match its revenue and ambitions.
OpenAI: record growth but more conflicts
The whole dispute is taking place against the backdrop of OpenAI's extraordinarily rapid growth:
In March, the company closed a financing with $122 billion of committed capital at a valuation of $852 billion
generates around $2 billion in revenue per month, according to its own numbers
its revenue is reportedly growing about four times faster than it did at a similar stage at Alphabet or Meta in the Internet and mobile eras
But at the same time, the number of fronts it has to fight on is escalating:
Elon Musk is suing it over its diversion from its nonprofit mission and alleged "betrayal" of its original charitable structure
Relationship with Microsoft is strained as OpenAI wants more independence ahead of IPO, while Microsoft protects its giant equity stake and Azure deals
and now a potential legal conflict looms with Apple, where it had hoped for a long-term distribution channel for a billion devices
Partnerships that were supposed to be a way to accelerate growth are turning into a source of legal and reputational risks in several cases. For investors, this is an important signal: OpenAI is no longer "just" a technology pioneer, but also a company that must manage the politics and contractual expectations of the world's most powerful corporations.