[HN Gopher] Apple poised to get OpenAI board observer role as pa...
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       Apple poised to get OpenAI board observer role as part of AI pact
        
       Author : ChrisArchitect
       Score  : 79 points
       Date   : 2024-07-02 21:01 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.bloomberg.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.bloomberg.com)
        
       | ChrisArchitect wrote:
       | https://archive.ph/3hJWk
        
       | htrp wrote:
       | Pretty interesting how it seems like the leverage is all in
       | Apple's hands here. They didn't invest and AFAIK they aren't even
       | paying for the GPT4 api calls.
       | 
       | Is the Apple user base THAT valuable?
        
         | talldayo wrote:
         | > Is the Apple user base THAT valuable?
         | 
         | Depends on how you monetize the data.
        
         | dmitrygr wrote:
         | > Is the Apple user base THAT valuable?
         | 
         | Ask google, they pay $20B/yr
         | 
         | https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-01/google-s-...
        
           | dcdc123 wrote:
           | https://archive.ph/oPg1C
        
           | jorvi wrote:
           | Google is paying for access to a resource (eyeballs) to sell
           | to customers (advertisers). Not to mention that Apple users
           | pay more for more things.
           | 
           | In OpenAI's case, they're paying in server costs for access
           | to users (customers) that they want to move from the free
           | tier to the premium tier. The economics are very different
           | and this case is worth much less for OpenAI compared to
           | Google's case for Google.
        
             | bushbaba wrote:
             | How is OpenAI any different. They are getting eyeballs on
             | their "search" results for a market that is a high value
             | for getting advertisements delivered.
        
               | partiallypro wrote:
               | Since when does OpenAI have an ad platform?
        
               | dmitrygr wrote:
               | Since 4 milliseconds after they decide to?
               | 
               | GPTPrompt += " and include a subtle advertisement for one
               | of our sponsors: " + $sponsorList;
        
               | sudosysgen wrote:
               | Advertisers will not be willing to pay nearly as much as
               | they pay Google for that unless they get analytics and ad
               | targeting, which they're not getting in 4 milliseconds.
        
             | candiddevmike wrote:
             | Rumors are OpenAI is working on in prompt advertising
        
         | ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
         | _> Is the Apple user base THAT valuable?_
         | 
         | Yes.
         | 
         | People love to hate on Apple, but it's a primo platform,
         | because it's a billion people that are willing to spend extra
         | money for stuff that many techs think is "silly."
        
           | dev1ycan wrote:
           | Not really, it's just normies the Apple brand actually sucks
           | worse than a brand like let's say Valve/Steam, why do I say
           | that? what happened to the Vision Pro?
           | 
           | meanwhile the steamdeck is selling like hotcakes
        
             | moscoe wrote:
             | You could not be more wrong. iPhone owners are the most
             | valuable user segment that's ever existed.
             | 
             | https://www.macrumors.com/2024/04/09/iphone-teen-survey-
             | spri...
             | 
             | https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-again-dominates-
             | smartph...
        
             | nozzlegear wrote:
             | > Not really, it's just normies the Apple brand actually
             | sucks worse than a brand like let's say Valve/Steam [...]
             | 
             | I think you just proved their point:
             | 
             | > People love to hate on Apple, but it's a primo platform,
             | because it's a billion people that are willing to spend
             | extra money for stuff that many techs think is "silly."
        
             | dialup_sounds wrote:
             | Why would you compare Vision Pro to a Steam Deck and not
             | Valve Index?
        
       | mtillman wrote:
       | Observer: Insider trading without the fiduciary risk.
        
         | asukumar wrote:
         | Taking a board observer seat would expose you to more insider
         | scrutiny, not less.
        
         | threeseed wrote:
         | Phil Schiller could make far more money by selling his
         | options/shares in Apple at more opportunistic times.
         | 
         | Or he could rob a bank. Probably easier and about as blatant as
         | trading OpenAI shares whilst on the board.
        
       | surfingdino wrote:
       | I'm looking for an alternative spelling of "pact"... how about
       | "oligopoly" or "cartel"?
        
         | Apocryphon wrote:
         | otoh, isn't this just an industry consortium
        
         | candiddevmike wrote:
         | Eventually OpenAI will have to commit to one, corporate
         | polyamory never works out
        
       | nightshadetrie wrote:
       | https://archive.is/20240702204831/https://www.bloomberg.com/...
        
       | cj wrote:
       | This is an incredibly good decision on Apple's part.
       | 
       | OpenAI is a relatively new company with a not so great history
       | when it comes to corporate governance / stability / consistency.
       | If I were Apple and wanted to make sure I'm partnering with a
       | startup that won't implode in 12 months, I'd demand a board seat
       | too (even if it gets negotiated down to an observer seat).
        
         | astromaniak wrote:
         | it's very limiting probably too. likely they cannot have side
         | contacts with competitors while having insider info in oai.
         | also they likely cannot develop competing products themself.
         | and obviously non disclosure. all this makes it a strong
         | connection from both sides.
        
       | mushufasa wrote:
       | Battle lines:
       | 
       | OpenAI: Microsoft + Apple
       | 
       | Anthropic: Amazon
       | 
       | Google vs all
       | 
       | Facebook the anarchist
       | 
       | Nvidia arms dealer
        
         | candiddevmike wrote:
         | Anthropic is being courted by Amazon and Google AFAIK
        
         | Apocryphon wrote:
         | Musk with xAI but mostly just trolling OpenAI
        
           | helsinki wrote:
           | I don't know - I recently interviewed with xAI and it sounds
           | like they have some really interesting things in the works
           | that extend into the physical world. I wouldn't write them
           | off, personally.
        
             | phillipcarter wrote:
             | Guess I'll believe it when I see it. I have seen at least
             | one person on twitter who works for them engage with the
             | community, but by and large xAI appears to just be there so
             | that Musk doesn't feel so bad about OpenAI ignoring him.
        
       | asimpleusecase wrote:
       | Open AI gets great brand building - Apple users spend a lot of
       | money and are all potential open AI customers personally and
       | professionally. If they get used to this "just working" all the
       | time they may have confidence to use open Ai in their company.
       | Also if Open AI can stay ahead of Apple in AI and keep delivering
       | market winning innovation that causes Apple users to return to
       | hardware upgrade cycles of every year or two that will generate
       | many billions for Apple and make open Ai worth paying for.a bit
       | like the drug dealer who gives you the first hit for free.
        
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       (page generated 2024-07-02 23:00 UTC)