Apple investment in OpenAI could catapult the Microsoft-backed company even higher

Apple is reportedly in discussions to invest in OpenAI, joining a new funding round alongside Microsoft and Thrive Capital that would value the ChatGPT maker at over $100 billion.

The Wall Street Journal exclusively reports that the Cupertino tech giant wants to strengthen its partnership with the Microsoft-backed AI startup. The two companies have, in the past, joined forces to enhance Siri and other AI features in Apple’s operating system.

No words on the exact sum just yet, but it’s a rare sight indeed as Apple typically does not invest in startups. Another report from Bloomberg also mentions that Nvidia will likely join the funding round with a potential contribution of around $100 million to help OpenAI expand its computing power and cover operating costs.

Microsoft has been OpenAI’s number-one financial backer for years. The Redmond tech giant has reportedly poured around $13 billion in total since its first investment into the ChatGPT makers back in 2019.

In exchange, Microsoft, which now owns 49% of OpenAI’s shares, got to integrate the AI into Bing—to what we know now as Copilot—as well as sales and marketing software, GitHub, Azure cloud, and Microsoft 365 apps.

In June, Apple announced a partnership with OpenAI to get ChatGPT into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. This allows you to access ChatGPT capabilities while ensuring privacy by not storing user requests and obscuring IP addresses.

ChatGPT’s desktop app also first arrived on macOS in a smart business move even before its Windows version despite Microsoft’s financial position in the AI startup.