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Apple Inc. has rejected proposals from Meta Platforms Inc. to integrate the social media company’s AI chatbot into the iPhone. (Photo: Reuters)
Apple Inc. rejected proposals from Meta Platforms Inc. to integrate the social media company’s AI chatbot into the iPhone months ago, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The two companies are not discussing using Meta’s Llama chatbot in an AI partnership and had only brief discussions in March, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the situation is private. Dialogue about a partnership has not reached any formal stage and Apple has no active plans to integrate Llama.
The preliminary discussions came as Apple began making deals to use OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Alphabet Inc.’s Gemini in its products. The iPhone maker announced the ChatGPT deal earlier this month and said it plans to offer Gemini in the future.
Apple decided not to move forward with formal discussions about Meta, in part because it does not consider that company’s privacy practices to be strict enough, according to the sources. Apple has spent years criticizing Meta technology, and bringing Llama into the iPhone would have been a radical change.
Apple also considers ChatGPT a superior offering. Google, meanwhile, is already a search partner in Apple’s Safari web browser, so a future Gemini deal would build on that relationship.
Spokespeople for Apple and Meta declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the two companies were in talks about an artificial intelligence partnership.
Apple unveiled a suite of artificial intelligence features at its Worldwide Developers Conference on June 10. This new technology, called Apple Intelligence, includes internally developed tools to summarize notifications, transcribe voice memos and generate personalized emojis.
But Apple’s chatbot technology isn’t as advanced as its competitors, prompting it to seek partners. The company also believes that customers will want to be able to switch between different chatbots depending on their needs, the same way they might switch from Google to Microsoft Corp.’s Bing. for research.
Apple continues to talk with AI startup Anthropic about possibly adding that company’s chatbot as an option, the sources said. Apple Intelligence will begin rolling out later this year as part of the iPhone, iPad and Mac operating systems.
The current deal with OpenAI does not involve an exchange of money, but Apple will allow paying ChatGPT customers to access their subscriptions in the iOS operating system. This could generate revenue for OpenAI, a percentage of which could be paid to Apple in the form of App Store commissions.
Meta and Apple were on friendlier terms a decade ago, when the iPhone maker was integrating Facebook into iOS. But the companies have become fierce rivals in recent years, competing for AI, home devices and mixed reality headsets.
First publication: June 25, 2024 | 7:56 a.m. STI
