Report: iOS 18 May Offer ChatGPT Integration as an Opt-In Feature

At its WWDC developer conference next week, Apple is expected to reveal how it will bring generative AI technology to iPhones, iPads, and Macs. According to recent reports, Apple has been working on a mix of local and cloud-based in-house AI features, but the company has also teamed up with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into its devices.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman previously reported that Apple is working on its own alternative to ChatGPT, but the technology isn’t ready yet. People familiar with the situation also told Gurman that some Apple executives still have a real aversion to AI chatbots. However, the conversational tools have now become so popular that Apple ultimately felt the need to bring this technology on the iPhone.

While Apple is expected to announce its partnership with OpenAI on Monday, the company hasn’t closed the door to other AI providers. “In the end, Apple may offer a number of third-party chatbots, but it’s negotiating the deals on a case-by-case basis,” Gurman said today citing people with knowledge of the situation.

Apple teaming up with OpenAI is still believed to be a temporary measure to give the company more time to improve its own generative AI technology. And according to Gurman, Apple will be cautious about not exposing all of its customers to OpenAI’s technology by default.

“Apple is expected to offer its new AI features as an opt-in service, according to the people familiar with the matter. So wary customers could easily steer clear of them if they’d prefer,” the reporter explained.

As we’ve recently seen with Google’s flawed AI Overviews, AI chatbots can be really damage a company’s reputation when they start producing nonsensical answers. Apple likely didn’t forget the disastrous response Apple Maps received on iOS 6, which forced CEO Tim Cook to publish a formal apology. The company will certainly do everything it can to avoid a similar PR disaster when it starts bringing generative AI to the iPhone.