I wrote in "Apple Strategy in a Nutshell"[1] that this deal is awful for OpenAI.
Not getting paid obviously makes it worse for them, and more favorable for Apple.
I think that what OpenAI is getting in return is their brand name being featured prominently in one of the top selling smartphone brands in the world.
The other wildcard here is that OpenAI will likely exit in some way, most likely by acquisition. Who knows, maybe Apple would buy them.
If I were to defend OpenAI's decision to work with Apple, I would say that Apple's ability to do gap analysis won't necessarily help them catch up with OpenAI's capabilities. If this was the case, Apple would have figured out how to make a better modem than Qualcomm by now.
I don’t think OpenAI company structure would allow an acquisition per se, although how much they bend the rules (such as with Microsoft) has not been tested
It's so bizarrely awful for OpenAI that you almost start to wonder what the auxiliary value of a few million iPhone user's data is.
But as Scarlett Johansson taught us; OpenAI will always ask first. And then they will do whatever they want anyways, regardless of what you respond with.
[1] https://nextword.substack.com/p/apples-ai-strategy-in-a-nuts...