OpenAI has told a federal court that putting ChatGPT inside Apple’s Siri did not deliver the reach the companies might have hoped for, and that the arrangement was never the exclusive lockout that Elon Musk’s xAI has alleged. The account comes from a newly filed set of documents in the ongoing antitrust litigation between OpenAI and Musk’s artificial intelligence company.
According to the filing, the integration that Apple introduced in December 2024 got off to a slow start almost immediately. By January 2025, OpenAI had already described the rollout as sluggish and trimmed its internal forecast for incremental logged-in weekly active users. The filing goes further, stating that the integration was dramatically underperforming and that the weakness persisted over time.
A Friction-Heavy Rollout
One reason for the disappointing numbers, according to OpenAI’s account, was the way users had to activate the feature. Rather than switching ChatGPT on by default, Apple required a multistep opt-in process. That extra friction appears to have kept many Siri users from ever reaching ChatGPT through the assistant.
OpenAI’s internal assessment was equally muted about Apple Intelligence more broadly. The filing indicates the company viewed usage of Apple’s own AI features as minimal, a detail that undercuts any suggestion that the Siri partnership became a dominant gateway for AI queries on Apple devices.
What the Apple Agreement Actually Said
Central to OpenAI’s defense is the structure of its deal with Apple. OpenAI asked for a two-year exclusivity period, according to the filing, but Apple refused. The agreement that resulted was explicitly non-exclusive, and Apple retained the right to integrate similar functionality from other providers.
Apple communicated that plan to OpenAI directly, the filing states: the company intended to bring on one provider first and then add more. Apple made similar public statements when it announced the feature, and its subsequent conduct has matched that description.
The clearest evidence may be Apple’s separate deal with Google. Apple’s newest models are based on Gemini, a arrangement that would be difficult to square with any claim that OpenAI held an exclusive position inside Siri.
xAI's Claims and OpenAI's Response
Musk’s xAI filed an antitrust lawsuit against both Apple and OpenAI, alleging that an exclusive arrangement between the two companies harmed xAI’s growth and customer acquisition. OpenAI’s filing disputes many of those claims directly.
The contract itself proves there was no exclusive deal, OpenAI argues. Because the agreement was non-exclusive and Apple was free to work with other AI providers, xAI cannot show the kind of market foreclosure that antitrust law requires, according to OpenAI.
OpenAI further contends that xAI cannot prove harm from the Siri integration because usage of ChatGPT through Siri was so low. Any foreclosure from the agreement was de minimis, the filing says.
A notable detail in the dispute involves the economic analysis. Plaintiffs’ experts declined to calculate foreclosure shares, according to OpenAI. OpenAI’s own expert, Dr. Catherine Tucker, did perform that calculation. She used the same data and the same market definition as the plaintiffs’ experts, yet her findings on foreclosure shares are redacted across all metrics in the filing.
Where the Case Stands
The litigation has already narrowed. Earlier this month, Musk’s companies dropped their claims against Apple, leaving OpenAI as the sole defendant. OpenAI is now asking the court to toss xAI’s remaining claims before trial.
A trial is planned for January 2027. Between now and then, the redacted portions of the record — including a March 2026 Apple-OpenAI conversation — may shape how the court evaluates whether the Siri integration was the competitive threat xAI claims or, as OpenAI portrays it, a partnership that barely moved the needle.
