OpenAI Acquires AI Startup Founded by Former Apple Employees

OpenAI has acquired Software Applications Inc., a startup building an AI-powered user interface for Mac desktops, part of a push by the ChatGPT maker to improve how artificial intelligence tools field tasks on a computer.

Software Applications was founded in 2023 by a group of former Apple Inc. employees, some of whom helped create the technology behind the iPhone’s Shortcuts app, which is designed to speed up common functions on the smartphone. As part of the acquisition, OpenAI plans to integrate the startup’s technology into ChatGPT and bring on its entire team of roughly a dozen people. Financial terms were not disclosed.

OpenAI, valued at $500 billion in a secondary share sale this month, has moved more aggressively this year to acquire startups. The AI developer agreed to buy product testing company Statsig for $1.1 billion and completed a nearly $6.5 billion purchase of an AI device startup co-founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive, both of which were all-stock transactions. OpenAI has also made a number of smaller acquisitions.