This is one of those things that seems like a good idea but is really an existential threat to OpenAI.
Having a single extremely large customer gives that customer a disproportionate amount of power over your business. Apple can decide one day to simply stop paying you because, hey, they can afford the years of litigation to resolve it. Can you weather than storm?
Famously, Benjamin Moore (the paint company) maintains its own stores. They have not (and probably will not) sell their products through Home Depot or Lowe's. Why? This exact reason. A large customer can dictate terms and hold you over a barrel if they so choose.
AI/ML is something Apple cares about. They've designed their own chips around speeding up ML processing on the device. A partnerhship with OpenAI is clearly a stopgap measure. They will absolutely gut OpenAI if they have the opportunity and they will absolutely replace OpenAI when they can.
Apple just doesn't like relying on partners for core functionality. It's why Apple ditched Google Maps for the (still inferior) Apple Maps. The only reason they can't replace Google Search is because Google pays them a boatload of money and they've simply been unable to.
This may seem like a good move for OpenAI but all they've done is let the foxes run the hen house.
Is there a single citation for anything you just said?
> Apple can decide one day to simply stop paying you because, hey, they can afford the years of litigation to resolve it.
OpenAI and Microsoft also can do the same. Microsoft would be ecstatic to hurt Apple in any way. Also Apple has also no history of doing this with any of the providers they use.
> Benjamin Moore (the paint company) maintains its own stores. They have not (and probably will not) sell their products through Home Depot or Lowe's. Why?
Because Home Depot has their own brand, Behr. Each Behr color explicitly says what Benjamin Moore color it's copying, and they take 100% of the revenue as a direct alternative. Do you have any sources on this being a Benjamin Moore decision?
> It's why Apple ditched Google Maps for the (still inferior) Apple Maps.
How do you define "still inferior"? How many times a day do you use Apple Maps? Do you have any benchmarks that compare the two?
OpenAI already had a “single extremely large customer”: Microsoft. In fact the Apple deal is the first sign they’re not just a de facto Microsoft subsidiary.
Having a single extremely large customer gives that customer a disproportionate amount of power over your business. Apple can decide one day to simply stop paying you because, hey, they can afford the years of litigation to resolve it. Can you weather than storm?
Famously, Benjamin Moore (the paint company) maintains its own stores. They have not (and probably will not) sell their products through Home Depot or Lowe's. Why? This exact reason. A large customer can dictate terms and hold you over a barrel if they so choose.
AI/ML is something Apple cares about. They've designed their own chips around speeding up ML processing on the device. A partnerhship with OpenAI is clearly a stopgap measure. They will absolutely gut OpenAI if they have the opportunity and they will absolutely replace OpenAI when they can.
Apple just doesn't like relying on partners for core functionality. It's why Apple ditched Google Maps for the (still inferior) Apple Maps. The only reason they can't replace Google Search is because Google pays them a boatload of money and they've simply been unable to.
This may seem like a good move for OpenAI but all they've done is let the foxes run the hen house.