Tim Cook is about to reveal Apple's plan to dominate the internet for another decade

• A 2005 deal between Apple and Google changed the way Americans use the internet.
• Apple may soon reveal a new arrangement that could do the same for the AI era.
• Tim Cook is expected to announce a partnership with OpenAI at WWDC to bring ChatGPT to iPhones.

When Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone in 2007, it was a landmark moment in Apple's history that involved the CEO of another Silicon Valley company: Google.

Eric Schmidt, Google's leader at the time, joined Jobs onstage at the Macworld conference as a symbol of the growing bond between their companies. In 2005, Apple and Google had struck a deal to make Mountain View's search engine the default option on the Mac's Safari browser.

The iPhone put Google front and center as the core search tool on the device Apple was betting its future on. It's a tie-up that has arguably determined who's dominated America's internet ever since.

As iPhones grew in popularity across the US, Google's reach spread too, giving an already dominant search engine more exposure.

The deal is now at the heart of a US antitrust lawsuit filed against Google in 2020, but it's shaped how Americans experienced the internet and has been extremely lucrative for Apple: Google paid $20 billion in 2022 to maintain the deal.

Now, Apple is preparing to reveal its plans to dominate the internet again — with the help of another Silicon Valley company.

Apple's plan to dominate the internet, again

When CEO Tim Cook kicks off Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference on Monday, he's expected to unveil a new vision of artificial intelligence by announcing a partnership with OpenAI.

Bloomberg reported last week that Apple is all but set to announce that the ChatGPT maker's technology will be integrated into the iPhone operating system.

For Apple, the partnership is a bold attempt to bring generative-AI features to its devices after months of questions from investors, developers, and others about its plans to get in on Silicon Valley's most-talked-about technology.

Though Apple typically keeps its plans secret, there's been a growing sense that the company was falling behind on AI. Rivals like Google and Meta have charged ahead with their own AI models, while Microsoft partnered with OpenAI as early as 2019.

But by bringing an incumbent AI player like OpenAI into its mix, Apple hopes it can shape a new internet experience for iPhone users in the AI era.

In a research note, Wedbush analysts wrote that this year's WWDC could be "the most important event for Apple in over a decade as the pressure to bring a generative AI stack of technology for developers and consumers" grows.

For OpenAI, the deal would give it access to one of the most powerful distribution systems in the world, as there are more than a billion active iPhone users.

Time will tell if the deal is as fruitful as Apple's search-engine agreement with Google. Though OpenAI has emerged as the face of the generative-AI boom thanks to the early-mover advantage it gained from ChatGPT's release in November 2022, it's also been mired in controversy.

No done deal

The ChatGPT maker's AI has been criticized for making critical errors and being prone to "hallucinations," bringing its reliability into question. The company has also been the subject of controversy, as CEO Sam Altman has come under fire from former employees over safety issues.

It's worth noting that neither company has confirmed the deal yet. It was previously reported that Apple had been in discussions with Google over an AI partnership, but OpenAI appears to have earned its favor.

One thing is certain: Apple is about to pitch the world on its plans to dominate the internet in the AI age.

Correction: June 6, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated the length of OpenAI's partnership with Microsoft. It started in 2019, not 2023.