ChatGPT in Siri 'Persistently Underperforming,' Says OpenAI

Court documents reveal that the ChatGPT Siri integration dramatically underperformed internal expectations, leading OpenAI to lower its user growth forecasts while successfully defending against an antitrust lawsuit from Elon Musk.

When Apple first announced its partnership to bring advanced artificial intelligence capabilities into its ecosystem, tech industry observers anticipated massive shifts in user engagement. However, newly unsealed court filings reveal that the high-profile Siri and ChatGPT deal struggled to gain traction among iPhone users from the moment it launched.

Why Did the ChatGPT Siri Integration Suffer a Slow Start?

Apple officially added ChatGPT capabilities into the native Apple assistant experience in December 2024. Despite initial excitement surrounding Apple Intelligence, the feature faced immediate roadblocks regarding user adoption and daily interaction.

The primary barrier to adoption was user experience friction. To access third-party artificial intelligence models through the native interface, users were required to navigate a multi-step opt-in process. This setup was designed to ensure privacy and transparency, but it created an additional hurdle for casual users.

By January 2025, just one month after the initial rollout, internal communications at OpenAI noted that the launch was off to a slow start. In response to lower-than-expected user activity, OpenAI was forced to cut its official forecasts for incremental logged-in weekly active users expected through the Apple partnership.

• Launch Date: December 2024 official feature addition.
• Primary Obstacle: Multi-step opt-in process creating user friction.
• Initial Reaction: OpenAI identified a slow start within four weeks.
• Forecast Adjustments: Internal projections for weekly active users were reduced in January 2025.
• Ongoing Performance: Described in court filings as persistently underperforming through early 2026.

Unsealed Court Documents Reveal Persistent Underperformance

Details about the true performance of the feature came to light through official [PDF] legal documents. These filings were submitted as part of an ongoing antitrust legal fight initiated by Elon Musk's company, SpaceXAI (formerly known as xAI when the lawsuit was originally brought to court).

Although significant portions of the legal records remain heavily redacted, the unsealed text presents a clear picture of OpenAI's internal assessment. OpenAI stated that by the time Musk's legal team filed their antitrust lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI, it was clear that Apple's implementation of ChatGPT was dramatically underperforming.

In a subsequent section of the court record, OpenAI reiterates this assessment, describing the arrangement as persistently underperforming. This ongoing trend led to a redacted, high-level conversation between executive teams at Apple and OpenAI in March 2026 to discuss the future of the feature.

How Exclusivity Demands Were Handled in the Contract

During the initial deal negotiations, OpenAI attempted to secure a strong competitive advantage on Apple's mobile platform. Legal filings show that OpenAI explicitly asked Apple for a two-year exclusivity period to restrict rival generative AI tools from integrating into the operating system.

Apple firmly rejected OpenAI's request for exclusivity. Instead, the final contract signed by both companies explicitly affirmed that the deal was entirely non-exclusive. Apple retained the unconditional right to integrate competing products or services that offered similar or identical functional features.

Apple made its multi-provider strategy public right from the start. When initially introducing its new generative tools, Apple stated that it intended to start with one partner before gradually expanding to include additional AI providers over time.

Demonstrating this multi-provider approach, Apple subsequently signed a major partnership deal with Google. In fact, Apple's newest internal AI models rely heavily on Google Gemini architecture, proving that OpenAI held no single-provider monopoly over Apple Intelligence.

Inside the SpaceXAI Lawsuit and Monopoly Claims

The legal dispute began when Elon Musk's company filed an antitrust lawsuit alleging that Apple and OpenAI had formed an exclusive partnership. The lawsuit claimed that this alleged monopoly severely harmed xAI's market expansion, suppressed fair competition, and hindered customer acquisition across iOS devices.

OpenAI's legal team strongly disputed every core argument in the suit. First, OpenAI pointed to the written language of the contract itself, which clearly showed no exclusive agreement ever existed between the parties.

Second, OpenAI argued that even if an exclusive partnership had existed, SpaceXAI could not demonstrate actual economic harm. Because the ChatGPT implementation saw such low consumer uptake, rival companies were not practically blocked from reaching potential customers.

Even if the Court assumes that Apple users who elect to use ChatGPT through Apple Intelligence are foreclosed from OpenAI's rivals (which they are not), the amount of foreclosure caused by the Agreement is indisputably de minimis. While Plaintiffs' experts declined to calculate foreclosure shares, OpenAI's expert, Dr. Catherine Tucker, calculated the share of GenAI consumers who accessed ChatGPT through Apple Intelligence across multiple metrics using the same data and market definition relied upon by Plaintiffs' experts. On these assumptions, Dr. Tucker found foreclosure shares of [REDACTED] across all metrics, consistent with OpenAI's internal view that Apple Intelligence saw minimal usage.

Court Case Timeline and Current Legal Status

The legal landscape surrounding Apple Intelligence and third-party AI models shifted significantly in September 2026. Elon Musk's entities officially dropped their claims against Apple, leaving OpenAI as the single remaining defendant in the case.

With Apple no longer involved in the suit, OpenAI submitted legal filings asking the presiding judge to dismiss xAI's remaining claims before the trial officially begins. The trial is currently scheduled to take place in January 2027.

Key Details of the Antitrust Dispute

1. Exclusivity Request: OpenAI requested a 2-year exclusive deal; Apple explicitly declined.
2. Contractual Terms: Contract was legally non-exclusive, allowing rival integrations like Google Gemini.
3. Plaintiff Claims: SpaceXAI alleged market foreclosure and suppressed consumer growth.
4. Expert Testimony: Dr. Catherine Tucker concluded that market foreclosure was de minimis due to weak usage.
5. Current Status: Apple was dropped from the lawsuit, and OpenAI has requested a full pre-trial dismissal.

What This Means for the Future of Apple Intelligence and ChatGPT

The ongoing struggle to convert system-level access into active daily software adoption highlights the challenges facing mobile AI integrations. While seamless access to external models sounds promising, user experience design and multi-step permissions play a major role in driving daily activity.

Furthermore, Apple's deliberate decision to partner with multiple providers, including Google Gemini, shows that major tech manufacturers prefer maintaining flexibility over granting exclusive rights to a single provider.

As the legal system prepares for the scheduled January 2027 trial date, the unsealed documents offer a rare glimpse into the commercial realities of big-tech AI partnerships. Despite high marketing expectations, the ChatGPT Siri integration proved that platform integration alone does not guarantee massive user engagement.

Related Topics: ChatGPT | OpenAI | Siri

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