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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Apple reportedly explored investing in OpenAI in 2024, but it did not complete the investment. The companies did pursue a separate ChatGPT integration for Apple products. By 2026, their relationship had become more complicated: Apple sued OpenAI over alleged trade-secret theft, a claim that remains part of ongoing litigation.
What Apple was reportedly considering
In late August 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was in discussions about joining a new OpenAI funding round. Contemporary coverage said the proposed round could value OpenAI at more than $100 billion, with Microsoft and Nvidia also reported as potential participants. Thrive Capital was associated with the round in coverage. Apple’s possible investment amount was not disclosed, and the reporting described talks—not a signed agreement or completed transaction.
The distinction matters: Apple was said to be considering an investment; it did not invest or become an owner of OpenAI. The reported valuation was an expectation tied to a prospective financing round, not proof of a completed deal or a sum Apple agreed to pay. Axios’s August 2024 account and BGR’s contemporary summary describe the reported discussions.
Why an investment could have made strategic sense
Apple had announced Apple Intelligence but was also opening its products to outside models for tasks its own systems might not handle. An equity investment could have aligned Apple more closely with a major model supplier, potentially offered insight or influence, and served as a hedge while Apple developed its own AI capabilities. Those are strategic interpretations; Apple did not publicly identify them as its reasons for exploring a deal.
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The wider competitive context helps explain the interest. Microsoft was already OpenAI’s major strategic backer and cloud partner, while Google, Meta and Anthropic were competing in AI models and assistants. For Apple, access to advanced models could support new features without requiring it to build every capability itself. A direct stake, however, could have signaled closer alignment with OpenAI and complicated Apple’s ability to work with other providers.
The product partnership was separate from the investment
Apple and OpenAI announced a partnership in June 2024. Under the announced arrangement, ChatGPT would be available through features including Siri and Writing Tools. Apple said users would be asked before information was shared with ChatGPT. Some features could be used without a ChatGPT account; signing in could provide access to account-linked capabilities. The launch-era reporting described GPT-4o as the model involved, but those details describe the 2024 rollout, not necessarily current product specifications. OpenAI’s announcement sets out the original partnership.
Apple Intelligence was not simply ChatGPT embedded in an iPhone. Apple presented its own models and privacy architecture as the foundation of Apple Intelligence, with ChatGPT as an external option for certain requests. A commercial product integration did not give Apple an ownership stake in OpenAI, and the reported investment discussions were not a condition of the integration.
How the talks ended
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| June 10, 2024 | Apple announced Apple Intelligence and its ChatGPT partnership at WWDC. |
| August 29–30, 2024 | Reports said Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft were considering participation in an OpenAI round expected to value the company above $100 billion. Apple’s potential investment amount was not disclosed. |
| September 27–28, 2024 | Apple reportedly withdrew from the negotiations, according to reporting that cited The Wall Street Journal. The withdrawal report did not establish a definitive reason. |
| October 2024 | OpenAI closed a financing round of about $6.6 billion without Apple, according to The Associated Press. |
The available reporting does not establish that Apple later completed the abandoned 2024 investment. Nor does it establish exactly why Apple left the talks.
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Why Apple might have walked away—and the trade-offs
Possible explanations should be treated as analysis, not reported fact. A valuation above $100 billion could have made an investment expensive; building and operating frontier AI models requires substantial capital; and Apple could access ChatGPT through a product partnership without buying equity. The partnership route also left Apple more room to work with other providers and limited its exposure to OpenAI’s financial and governance risks.
Investing could still have offered closer alignment, potential financial upside and a chance for greater influence. The trade-off would have been less flexibility and more exposure to regulatory, governance and reputational questions—as well as to a company that could become a competitor in consumer AI or hardware. Apple is better known for investing in its products, supply chain and internal technology than for routinely taking large venture-style stakes. Earlier reported investments, including in SoftBank’s Vision Fund and Didi, provide precedent, not evidence that such deals were standard practice; Techmeme’s roundup of the 2024 coverage notes that context.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What changed by 2026
OpenAI announced on March 31, 2026, that it had secured $122 billion in committed capital at an $852 billion post-money valuation. Its announcement listed a broad group of infrastructure and technology participants, including Microsoft, Oracle, AWS, CoreWeave, Google Cloud, Nvidia and AMD; it did not establish Apple as an investor. OpenAI’s announcement describes that financing.
In July 2026, Apple sued OpenAI over alleged trade-secret misappropriation connected to OpenAI’s hardware ambitions. Those allegations have not been adjudicated. The lawsuit marks a later legal conflict; it does not establish what Apple’s motives were in 2024 or prove that an investment would have been a mistake. Axios and The Associated Press reported on the case.
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What the episode says about Apple’s AI strategy
The reported talks and the product deal point to different ways of securing AI capabilities. Apple could develop core systems itself, integrate external models where useful, and avoid committing capital to a supplier unless the benefits justified the cost and reduced flexibility. That approach leaves Apple less influence over an outside provider’s roadmap, while allowing it to maintain a commercial relationship without taking on the risks of ownership.
The practical conclusion is narrower than the August 2024 headline might suggest: Apple explored an OpenAI investment, then withdrew before the round closed. The ChatGPT integration—not an equity stake—was the material transaction between the companies in 2024.
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