OpenAI says its ChatGPT integration in Siri has been “persistently underperforming,” according to a court filing in its ongoing legal fight with Elon Musk’s company SpaceXAI, which was called xAI when the lawsuit began. The filing argues that the Apple deal never drew enough new users to hurt any rival.
Much of the document is redacted. MacRumors went through the filing, and the court record is available as a PDF.
ChatGPT in Siri Started Slowly and Never Caught Up
Apple added ChatGPT to Siri in December 2024, but users had to go through a multistep opt-in process, which added friction. By January 2025 OpenAI was already describing the launch as slow, and it cut its forecast for the number of incremental logged-in weekly active users it expected from the partnership.
OpenAI says that by the time Musk’s companies filed their antitrust lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI, it was clear the integration was dramatically underperforming. A later section of the filing repeats the point and says it led to a March 2026 conversation between Apple and OpenAI. What was said in that conversation is redacted.
Apple Turned Down a Request for Two Years of Exclusivity
OpenAI asked Apple for a two-year exclusivity period, and Apple refused. The agreement between the two companies says the deal is non-exclusive and that Apple can integrate other products that offer the same or similar functionality. Apple told OpenAI it planned to integrate one provider first and add more later, and it said much the same in public when it announced the feature.
Apple has since signed a deal with Google, and its newest models are based on Gemini.
Musk’s companies alleged that OpenAI and Apple had an exclusive deal that hurt xAI’s growth and customer acquisition. OpenAI says the contract proves there was no exclusivity. It adds that even if there had been, xAI cannot show harm because the Siri integration did not bring in many new ChatGPT users.
OpenAI’s expert witness, Catherine Tucker, calculated the share of generative AI consumers who reached ChatGPT through Apple Intelligence using the same data and market definition that xAI’s experts relied on. The resulting figures are redacted. The filing calls the foreclosure effect de minimis and points to OpenAI’s own internal view that Apple Intelligence saw minimal usage.
The Case Heads Toward a January 2027 Trial
Musk’s companies dropped their claims against Apple earlier this month, which left OpenAI as the only defendant. The filing asks the court to throw out xAI’s remaining claims before trial.
- December 2024: ChatGPT arrives in Siri behind an opt-in process
- January 2025: OpenAI cuts its user forecast for the partnership
- March 2026: Apple and OpenAI hold a conversation that is redacted in the filing
- September 2026: xAI drops its claims against Apple
- January 2027: trial planned
Our Take
The language in the filing is an argument aimed at a judge. The usage figures behind it are redacted, so there is no way to check how few people the integration reached. What is clear is that the opt-in steps made ChatGPT in Siri harder to use than it needed to be, and that Apple now runs Siri AI on Gemini-based models.
