Apple is now looking to OpenAI and Google to bring AI smarts to iOS 18

Over the past year, AI has been all the rage. The two biggest smartphone releases of the past six months — the Pixel 8 series and the Galaxy S24 series — heavily focused on the AI power of the phones. Notably, almost all that AI is powered by Google’s Gemini, even on the Samsung phones.

Previously, we had heard that Apple was also in talks with Google about bringing Gemini-based features to iOS 18, the next version of the operating system. This would make sense, as Google has already done this for Samsung. Now, though, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says that Apple is in talks with OpenAI about bringing ChatGPT-powered features to iOS. It’s possible, therefore, that iOS 18 could feature AI tricks powered by both Gemini and ChatGPT.

To be clear, this isn’t the first time Apple and OpenAI have talked about this. Earlier this year, rumors abounded that Apple and OpenAI were chatting. Reportedly, though, those talks died down and talks with Google picked back up. Gurman does say that Apple and Google are still in discussion.

In other words, Apple might be negotiating between both companies to see what it can get. Obviously, Apple doesn’t want iOS 18 to be able to do the exact same things that Pixels and Galaxy S phones can do. It needs at least a few things that are unique to iPhones. It’s possible that Google is unable (or unwilling) to offer this, so Apple is asking OpenAI about it.

Unfortunately, Gurman doesn’t have any info on what these potential features might be. For now, though, it’s not unreasonable to expect iOS 18 to support some of the features we’ve already seen on the Pixel 8 and Galaxy S24 series, with some additional new features created by OpenAI. Apple also has its own large language model (LLM), which it’s been working on in-house, so it’s even possible there could be some Apple-made AI features in there.

We’ll find out more in June when Apple holds its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).