Business
Apple announces deal with OpenAI. Will it be a game-changer?
Apple is finally taking the plunge on AI.
The company on Monday unveiled a suite of new artificial intelligence capabilities that will be available in its newest operating system, including connecting its interactive voice feature Siri with OpenAI’s ChatGPT in a major deal that could supercharge adoption of the fast-developing technology.
Siri, for example, will be able to surface answers from ChatGPT for Apple devices and provide relevant contextual information across several apps, the Cupertino, Calif., tech giant said at its highly anticipated developer conference. The iPhone, Mac and iPad maker’s newest operating system update will also feature AI-augmented improvements in its photo editing and image search capabilities, among other things.
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook described Apple’s new AI-based functions, dubbed Apple Intelligence, as the next big step for the company, which has been slow to adopt emerging technology that has the potential to change the way people live and work.
“Recent developments in generative intelligence and large language models offer powerful capabilities that provide the opportunity to take the experience of using Apple products to new heights,” Cook said in a keynote address during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, where the company previewed the iOS 18 system and other software updates for products including the Mac and iPad.
The move signals Apple’s wider ambitions in the expanding AI landscape, as technology has progressed dramatically. Tools made by San Francisco-based OpenAI have been used to create music videos, read bedtime stories to children and help brainstorm ideas for writers. Companies including Microsoft and Google have aggressively incorporated AI into their products and services.
Apple has often not been the first to market with new technological advances, choosing instead to enter new product categories — including smartphones and tablets — once they’ve been established, leading to broader consumer adoption. For example, Apple only began selling its own virtual and augmented reality headset (known as Vision Pro) early this year.
Apple said its AI capabilities were created with privacy protections in mind. Apple Intelligence uses on-device processing. For requests that require use of the cloud, iPhone, iPad and Mac “do not talk to a server unless its software has been publicly logged for inspection” and the data are not retained or exposed, the company said.
Apple presented several uses for Apple’s new AI features. For example, if an iPhone user gets a notification that a work meeting has been moved to a later time, she can ask Siri how much time it would take for her to get from where the meeting is located to her kid’s play that night. In another hypothetical instance, an iPad user could share a photo of an empty patio and ask Siri what plants should be added.
The company also said customers can use Apple Intelligence to make suggestions for their writing, using it to analyze the tone of an email with options to make it more friendly or professional.
The announcement of the OpenAI deal “kicks off a new frontier for Apple,” said Daniel Ives, a managing director at Wedbush Securities who follows Apple.
“This was a historical day for Apple and Cook & Co. did not disappoint in our view,” Ives, who has an “outperform,” or “buy,” rating on the company’s stock, said in a note to clients. “Apple is taking the right path to implement AI across its ecosystem while laying out the foundation for the company’s multi-year AI strategy across the strongest installed base of 2.2 billion iOS devices over the coming years.”
Investors were less impressed, sending Apple’s stock down 1.9% to $193.12 a share.
Apple hopes adding new AI tools to its products and services will make them more useful to customers and thus more attractive. The company has faced a number of challenges, including slowing device sales in China. Ives said that AI technology introduced to Apple’s ecosystem will bring more opportunities for Apple to generate revenue.
Through its deal with OpenAI, Apple’s digital assistant Siri can ask Apple users if Siri can relay a question to ChatGPT for further information. This allows Apple to harness ChatGPT’s platform and in return, Apple users also become familiar with ChatGPT and what it can do. Every day, Apple said, Siri gets 1.5 billion voice requests.
ChatGPT will be available for free to Apple users on its newest operating systems for iPhones, iPads and Macs later this year. Apple said its users won’t need an account with ChatGPT to use it on Apple devices. OpenAI won’t store requests and IP addresses will be obscured, the company said.
“Together with Apple, we’re making it easier for people to benefit from what AI can offer,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a statement.
Some tech companies, including Apple, didn’t anticipate the breakthroughs in AI over the last year, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst with advisory services firm Enderle Group. The partnership with OpenAI is one way for Apple to catch up. One of OpenAI’s major backers is Microsoft, an Apple competitor.
“Apple’s been significantly behind on AI,” Enderle said. “This is a method to allow Apple to make up for the fact that they haven’t been focused on AI like they should have done over the last decade or so.”
Apple Intelligence was one of many announcements and updates from Apple on Monday, including a feature that lets AirPods Pro users nod yes or shake their heads no to Siri’s questions when they are in crowded spaces. Additionally, the company announced that the Vision Pro headset will also be available in additional countries starting later this month, including mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.
The company also unveiled a new feature called InSight for its tvOS18 that is similar to Amazon’s X-Ray and shows the names of actors or a song playing on an Apple TV+ program.
OpenAI has become the best-known player in the artificial intelligence space, thanks to its tools including ChatGPT and Sora, its text-to-video tool. But the company has faced its fair share of controversies and challenges.
OpenAI last month received backlash from actor Scarlett Johansson, who said she was approached by the startup’s CEO to record her voice for a Siri-like voice assistant version of ChatGPT. After she declined the opportunity, Johansson said, she was upset when she heard what sounded like her voice in a ChatGPT demo.
Altman is known to be a fan of the 2013 movie “Her,” in which Johansson plays “Samantha,” the disembodied voice of a computer who provides friendship and, eventually, love to a lonely man played by Joaquin Phoenix.
OpenAI said that the AI voice, called “Sky,” was not Johansson’s and was recorded by an unnamed voice actor. Nonetheless, the company paused the use of the Sky voice.
OpenAI recently caught flak for disbanding a team that was tasked with coming up with systems to prevent the rise of artificial intelligence from leading to disaster for humanity. After the firestorm, OpenAI created a new safety committee led by board members, including Altman.
Last week in an open letter, former and current OpenAI employees also raised concerns. The group said that “AI companies have strong financial incentives to avoid effective oversight, and we do not believe bespoke structures of corporate governance are sufficient to change this.”
OpenAI said in a statement said that it believes “rigorous debate is crucial” and it will continue to engage with communities, governments and civil society. The company said it has an anonymous hotline and a safety and security committee.
“We’re proud of our track record providing the most capable and safest AI systems and believe in our scientific approach to addressing risk,” the company said.
Large tech companies are also facing their own challenges, with the U.S. government raising antitrust concerns.
In March, the Department of Justice sued Apple, accusing the tech giant of stifling competition and leveraging its clout and ownership of the popular App Store to increase prices for customers. Apple said the lawsuit threatens “who we are.”
“If successful, it would hinder our ability to create the kind of technology people expect from Apple — where hardware, software, and services intersect,” Apple said in a statement.
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Politicians in Washington and the reporters who cover them have an often adversarial relationship.
But on the last Saturday in April, they gather for an irreverent celebration of press freedom and the First Amendment at the Washington Hilton Hotel: The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
Hosted by the association, an organization that helps ensure access for media outlets covering the presidency, the dinner attracts Hollywood stars; politicians from both parties; and representatives of more than 100 networks, newspapers, magazines and wire services.
While The Times will have two reporters in the ballroom covering the event, the company no longer buys seats at the party, said Richard W. Stevenson, the Washington bureau chief. The decision goes back almost two decades; the last dinner The Times attended as an organization was in 2007.
“We made a judgment back then that the event had become too celebrity-focused and was undercutting our need to demonstrate to readers that we always seek to maintain a proper distance from the people we cover, many of whom attend as guests,” he said.
It’s a decision, he added, that “we have stuck by through both Republican and Democratic administrations, although we support the work of the White House Correspondents’ Association.”
Susan Wessling, The Times’s Standards editor, said the policy is a product of the organization’s desire to maintain editorial independence.
“We don’t want to leave readers with any questions about our independence and credibility by seeming to be overly friendly with people whose words and actions we need to report on,” she said.
The celebrity mentalist Oz Pearlman is headlining the evening, in lieu of the usual comedy set by the likes of Stephen Colbert and Hasan Minhaj, but all eyes will be on President Trump, who will make his first appearance at the dinner as president.
Mr. Trump has boycotted the event since 2011, when he was the butt of punchlines delivered by President Barack Obama and the talk show host Seth Meyers mocking his hair, his reality TV show and his preoccupation with the “birther” movement.
Last month, though, Mr. Trump, who has a contentious relationship with the media, announced his intention to attend this year’s dinner, where he will speak to a room full of the same reporters he often derides as “enemies of the people.”
Times reporters will be there to document the highs, the lows and the reactions in the room. A reporter for the Styles desk has also been assigned to cover the robust roster of after-parties around Washington.
Some off-duty reporters from The Times will also be present at this late-night circuit, though everyone remains cognizant of their roles, said Patrick Healy, The Times’s assistant managing editor for Standards and Trust.
“If they’re reporting, there’s a notebook or recorder out as usual,” he said. “If they’re not, they’re pros who know they’re always identifiable as Times journalists.”
For most of The Times’s reporters and editors, though, the evening will be experienced from home.
“The rest of us will be able to follow the coverage,” Mr. Stevenson said, “without having to don our tuxes or gowns.”
A former female staffer who worked for Beast Industries, the media venture behind the popular YouTube channel MrBeast, is suing the company, alleging she was sexually harassed and fired shortly after she returned from maternity leave.
The employee, Lorrayne Mavromatis, a Brazilian-born social media professional, alleges in a lawsuit she was subjected to sexual harassment by the company’s management and demoted after she complained about her treatment. She said she was urged to join a conference call while in labor and expected to work during her maternity leave in violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act, according to the federal complaint filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
“This clout-chasing complaint is built on deliberate misrepresentations and categorically false statements, and we have the receipts to prove it. There is extensive evidence — including Slack and WhatsApp messages, company documents, and witness testimony — that unequivocally refutes her claims. We will not submit to opportunistic lawyers looking to manufacture a payday from us,” Gaude Paez, a Beast Industries spokesperson, said in a statement.
Jimmy Donaldson, 27, began MrBeast as a teen gaming channel that soon exploded into a media company worth an estimated $5 billion, with 500 employees and 450 million subscribers who watch its games, stunts and giveaways.
Mavromatis, who was hired in 2022 as its head of Instagram, described a pervasive climate of discrimination and harassment, according to the lawsuit.
In her complaint, she alleges the company’s former CEO James Warren made her meet him at his home for one-on-one meetings while he commented on her looks and dismissed her complaints about a male client’s unwanted advances, telling her “she should be honored that the client was hitting on her.”
When Mavromatis asked Warren why MrBeast, Donaldson, would not work with her, she was told that “she is a beautiful woman and her appearance had a certain sexual effect on Jimmy,” and, “Let’s just say that when you’re around and he goes to the restroom, he’s not actually using the restroom.”
Paez refuted the claim.
“That’s ridiculous. This is an allegation fabricated for the sole purpose of sparking headlines,” Paez said.
Mavromatis said she endured a slate of other indignities such as being told by Donaldson that she “would only participate in her video shoot if she brought him a beer.”
“In this male-centric workplace, Plaintiff, one of the few women in a high-level role, was excluded from otherwise all-male meetings, demeaned in front of colleagues, harassed, and suffered from males be given preferential treatment in employment decisions,” states the complaint.
When Mavromatis raised a question during a staff meeting with her team, she said a male colleague told her to “shut up” or “stop talking.”
At MrBeast headquarters in Greenville, N.C., she said male executives mocked female contestants participating in BeastGames, “who complained they did not have access to feminine hygiene products and clean underwear while participating in the show.”
In November 2023, Mavromatis formally complained about “the sexually inappropriate encounters and harassment, and demeaning and hostile work environment she and other female employees had been living and experiencing working at MrBeast,” to the company’s then head of human resources, Sue Parisher, who is also Donaldson’s mother, according to the suit.
In her complaint, Mavromatis said Beast Industries did not have a method or process for employees to report such issues either anonymously or to a third party, rather employees were expected to follow the company’s handbook, “How to Succeed In MrBeast Production.”
In it, employees were instructed that, “It’s okay for the boys to be childish,” “if talent wants to draw a dick on the white board in the video or do something stupid, let them” and “No does not mean no,” according to the complaint.
Mavromatis alleges that she was demoted and then fired.
Paez said that Mavromatis’s role was eliminated as part of a reorganization of an underperforming group within Beast Industries and that she was made aware of this.
Lululemon, the yoga pants and athletic clothing company, has hired a former executive from a rival, Nike, as its new chief executive.
Heidi O’Neill, who spent more than 25 years at Nike, will take the reins and join Lululemon’s board of directors on Sept. 8, the company announced on Wednesday.
The leadership change is happening during a tumultuous time for Lululemon, which had grown to $11 billion in revenue by persuading shoppers to ditch their jeans and slacks for stretchy leggings. But lately, sales have declined in North America amid intense competition and shifting fashion trends, with consumers favoring looser styles rather than the form-fitting silhouettes for which Lululemon is best known.
“As I step into the C.E.O. role in September, my job will be to build on that foundation — to accelerate product breakthroughs, deepen the brand’s cultural relevance, and unlock growth in markets around the world,” Ms. O’Neill, 61, said in a statement.
Lululemon, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, has also been entangled in a corporate power struggle over the company’s future. Its billionaire founder, Chip Wilson, has feuded with the board, nominated independent directors and criticized executives.
Lululemon’s previous chief executive, Calvin McDonald, stepped down at the end of January as pressure mounted from Mr. Wilson and some investors. One activist investor, Elliott Investment Management, had pushed its own chief executive candidate, who was not selected.
The interim co-chiefs, Meghan Frank and André Maestrini, will lead the company until Ms. O’Neill’s arrival, when they are expected to return to other senior roles. The pair had outlined a plan to revive sales at Lululemon, promising to invest in stores, save more money and speed up product development.
“We start the year with a real plan, with real strategies,” Mr. Maestrini said in an interview this year. “We make sure decisions are made fast.”
Lululemon said last month that it would add Chip Bergh, the former chief executive of Levi Strauss, to its board to replace David Mussafer, the chairman of the private equity firm Advent International, whom Mr. Wilson had sought to remove.
Ms. O’Neill climbed the organizational chart at Nike for decades, working across divisions including consumer sports, product innovation and brand marketing, and was most recently its president of consumer, product and brand. She left Nike last year amid a shake-up of senior management that led to the elimination of her role.
Analysts said Ms. O’Neill would be expected to find ways to energize Lululemon’s business and reset the company’s culture in order to improve performance.
“O’Neill is her own person who will come with an agenda of change,” said Neil Saunders, the managing director of GlobalData, a data analytics and consulting company. “The task ahead is a significant one, but it can be undertaken from a position of relative stability.”
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