ChatGPT in Siri 'Persistently Underperforming,' Says OpenAI
Short summary
OpenAI's integration with Apple's Siri underperformed badly after its December 2024 launch, bringing in far fewer users than expected. The company is now using this failure as a defense against Elon Musk's xAI lawsuit, arguing the deal caused minimal market harm because almost nobody used it.
- OpenAI cut its user growth forecast by January 2025 and internally called the Apple partnership "dramatically underperforming" and "persistently underperforming"
- Apple rejected OpenAI's request for a two-year exclusivity deal and signed competing agreements with Google and other providers
- OpenAI's expert calculated that ChatGPT's market foreclosure through Apple Intelligence was minimal across all metrics, supporting the argument that xAI suffered no meaningful competitive harm
Full summary
OpenAI's integration with Apple's Siri flopped. Apple added ChatGPT to Siri in December 2024, but the rollout required users to jump through multiple hoops to opt in. By January, OpenAI was already calling it "off to a slow start" and downgrading its projections for new active users. Court filings from OpenAI's legal battle with Elon Musk's xAI describe the partnership as "dramatically underperforming" and later "persistently underperforming"—language that's pretty damning for a supposedly major deal between two tech giants.
The real tension surfaced when OpenAI tried to lock in exclusivity. OpenAI asked Apple for a two-year exclusive arrangement, but Apple flatly refused. The actual contract made clear from the start that the deal wasn't exclusive and that Apple could integrate other AI providers. True to its word, Apple signed with Google and now runs Gemini on its latest models. OpenAI's own expert calculated that the foreclosure share—basically the portion of AI users blocked from competitors—was so small it barely registers statistically.
Musk's xAI sued, claiming OpenAI and Apple had secretly agreed to an exclusive deal that damaged xAI's ability to grow and acquire customers. OpenAI's legal response in court documents essentially boils down to: there was no exclusive deal, and even if there were, xAI can't show real harm because almost nobody used the Siri integration anyway. Musk's companies have already dropped their claims against Apple, leaving OpenAI as the remaining defendant. A trial is scheduled for January 2027.