OpenAI says Apple’s ChatGPT integration ‘dramatically underperformed’

OpenAI has revealed that its ChatGPT integration with Apple Intelligence performed significantly below expectations after launching across Apple’s devices in late 2024.

New court filings show OpenAI had expected its partnership with Apple to deliver a “halo effect,” bringing more users and subscriptions to ChatGPT through its prominent integration with Siri and Apple Intelligence. Instead, adoption got off to a slow start and remained weaker than OpenAI had anticipated.

According to The Financial Times, OpenAI began reducing forecasts for the number of additional weekly active users it expected from the Apple partnership just a month after the integration launched. By summer 2025, OpenAI concluded that Apple’s ChatGPT integration was “dramatically underperforming.”

The details have emerged from court documents filed as part of OpenAI’s ongoing legal battle with Elon Musk’s companies. The lawsuit has challenged the relationship between Apple and OpenAI, including allegations that the companies’ arrangement unfairly shut rival AI providers out of Apple’s ecosystem.

Apple and OpenAI have disputed claims that their agreement was exclusive. Court filings indicate Apple specifically retained the ability to integrate other AI services offering similar functionality, while Apple has publicly discussed plans to give users access to additional AI models.

One factor behind the weaker-than-expected adoption may have been the way Apple implemented ChatGPT. The integration was optional and required users to enable it, adding additional steps before ChatGPT could be used through Apple Intelligence.

ChatGPT originally arrived within Apple Intelligence in December 2024, allowing Siri to hand more complex questions to OpenAI’s models. It was also integrated into Apple’s systemwide Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence.

Users did not need a ChatGPT account to access the integration, while those who signed in could connect their existing account and gain access to additional ChatGPT features. Apple’s implementation also included privacy protections for requests made without an account.

OpenAI’s expectations for the partnership went beyond usage alone. The company anticipated Apple’s promotion of ChatGPT and association with the Apple brand would help drive awareness and potentially encourage more users to subscribe directly to ChatGPT.

The court documents indicate that the results prompted concern inside OpenAI that Apple could move more quickly toward another AI provider.

Apple had signaled from the beginning that ChatGPT would not necessarily remain its only external AI option. Software chief Craig Federighi previously pointed to Google’s Gemini as an example of another model Apple could eventually offer.

Apple has since deepened its relationship with Google, using Gemini models as part of the technology behind its new generation of Siri AI.

The disclosure offers a rare look at how one of Apple’s most prominent outside AI partnerships performed behind the scenes, showing that prominent placement across iPhone, iPad and Mac did not translate into the level of ChatGPT adoption OpenAI initially expected.