OpenAI has bought Skyan AI application for macOS that had not even been released on the market. Behind them are Ari Weinstein and Conrad Kramer, the creators of Workflow, the automation app that Apple bought in 2017 and became Shortcuts.
Why is it important. Three people with years of experience within Apple, a deep knowledge of macOS, and a unique understanding of automation have decided it was better to build outside than inside.
And OpenAI has just signed them to integrate ChatGPT precisely into Apple’s operating system.
The context. Sky promised to be exactly what Siri should be by 2025:
- An AI that floats above your desk.
- Who understands what you do.
- That sees the context of your screen.
- And that executes complex actions with a simple instruction in natural language.
The vision of AI-assisted computing taken to the maximum.
The founders of Software Applications Incorporatedthe company behind Sky, spent years within Apple after purchasing Workflow in 2017. They left in August 2023. 26 months later, OpenAI buys them. The entire cycle has lasted less than two years. That’s speed. That’s what happens when you have a clear vision and there aren’t a hundred committees holding you back.
What has happened. Kim Beverettthe third co-founder, also came from Apple. Almost ten years working on Safari, WebKit, privacy, Messages, Mail, FaceTime, SharePlay. They are product people. People who understand macOS better than almost anyone on the planet.
And this is not just any startup. It’s a startup founded by people who know the ins and outs of macOS intimately, who know exactly what it can do and how to do it. And they decided that it was better to do it outside of Apple than inside.
Between the lines. OpenAI does not buy Sky for the technology. Buy Sky for the talent. The twelve team members join OpenAI to, according to ChatGPT’s vice president, accelerate “deep integration with macOS.” Apple trained these people, gave them access to their systems. Now OpenAI is going to use that knowledge to build exactly what Apple should be building.
Apple has been promising for months that Siri is going to improve, that Apple Intelligence It’s the future. But beyond hardware increasingly specialized in local modelswe’ve only seen delays and a fairly muted value proposition so far. Meanwhile…
- OpenAI has launched Atlasyour browser with deep ChatGPT integration.
- Now buy Sky to bring that integration to all macOS. With people who know exactly how the innards of the system work.
Apple is being outplayed on its own turf. And it’s not just Sky. Jony Ive, the most important designer in Apple’s history, left in 2019. Now work with OpenAI on an AI device. With financing from SoftBank. With Sam Altman directly involved.
The alarm signal. Apple has a cultural problem: it is too slow. Too cautious. Privacy is an important differentiator, but it may cost you to be left off the generative AI map. The talent that Apple trained is leaving because it can’t build what it wants inside. At least not with the desired speed.
Sky will at some point arrive as an OpenAI product or as an integration into ChatGPT desktop app. But it will also be a symbol of what can be done with deep knowledge, clear vision and freedom to execute without twenty layers of approval.
And now what. Apple needs speed. You need ambition. You need to be willing to take risks. Because talent doesn’t wait. And AI does not forgive slowness.
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Featured image | OpenAI
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