The speeches of Apple and its big boss Tim Cook are rare, so we have to weigh the weight of each word, each of his sentences. So when Tim Cook agrees to answer the media’s questions Wiredall his statements are scrutinized.
In this long interview (available in English in the source), the Apple boss discusses in particular the latest projects of the apple brand. Particularly on the development of Apple Intelligence, the brand’s AI. Asked about the cost of this feature, Tim Cook assures that there was never any question of charging users for this new option.
The Apple boss explains that this AI system is one of the key features of its operating system (iOS on iPhone) and it would be very difficult to separate it from other options. He takes the example of multi-layering, a feature launched with the iPhone and which profoundly changed the way we interacted with a touch screen.
Apple does not want to charge anything, for now
With a long-term vision of Apple Intelligence fully integrated into iOS, it would indeed be difficult to make it a paid option (and therefore to develop an entire ecosystem functioning without Apple Intelligence). This way of working around AI is, however, quite unique.
For the moment, all large companies entering the artificial intelligence market have made it a paid external functionality. This is in fact the only way to reduce enormous operating costs. OpenAI offers a subscription for ChatGPT, Microsoft does the same for Copilot and even Google, with Gemini, has implemented various offers depending on the rate of use of the functionality.
Could Apple have bought ChatGPT?
In this same interview with Tim Cook, we learn that the Apple brand was in discussions with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into its iPhone. If these discussions were successful, Apple could even have invested in OpenAI to the tune of several million dollars (or even billions).
The Cupertino company changed its mind at the last moment, according to Tim Cook. Apple has historically never invested in a third-party company, it has always preferred to conclude takeovers to consolidate its position, such as with Shazam or Beats by Dre.
More recently, it was the Canadian start-up Darwin AI which entered the Apple ecosystem for an unknown amount. The Ontario-based company was far ahead on topics like the miniaturization of artificial intelligence. In particular, she worked in close collaboration with Nvidia.
