Apple has withdrawn from consideration to take part in an OpenAI funding round that is anticipated to generate roughly $6.5 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal on Friday.
TakeAway Points:
- Apple has left negotiations to participate in an OpenAI funding round expected to raise about $6.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal said on Friday.
- The complaint against Apple for allegedly gathering personal data from users of iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches through proprietary programs including the App Store, Apple Music, and Apple TV was narrowed by a federal judge.
- The lawsuit seeking unspecified damages is one of many accusing technology companies such as Apple, Alphabet’s Google and Meta Platforms’ Facebook of allowing the collection of user data without consent.
Apple stops financial negotiation with OpenAI
The tech giant recently fell out of the talks for the round, set to close next week, the newspaper said, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Other firms, such as Microsoft and Nvidia, have also been in talks to participate, the report said, adding that Microsoft was expected to invest about $1 billion after having already poured $13 billion into the company.
Last month, the Journal first reported that Apple was in the talks as part of OpenAI’s new fund-raising effort that could value the ChatGPT maker above $100 billion.
The high valuation is a result of the AI arms race OpenAI sparked with its launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, spurring companies across industries to invest billions in the technology to stay ahead of the competition and capture market share.
A federal judge said Apple must face narrowed privacy lawsuit over its apps
A federal judge narrowed a lawsuit accusing Apple of violating the privacy of iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch users by collecting their personal data through proprietary apps such as the App Store, Apple Music and Apple TV.
U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California, dismissed nearly all claims based on the “Allow Apps to Request to Track” setting on Apple mobile devices, but let some claims proceed over the “Share [Device] Analytics” setting.
Mobile device users said Apple violated their user agreements and several privacy and consumer protection laws by assuring that disabling the settings would limit its collection, storage, and use of their data – only to then ignore their choices and collect, store, and use that data.
The lawsuit seeking unspecified damages is one of many accusing technology companies such as Apple, Alphabet’s Google and Meta Platforms’ Facebook of allowing the collection of user data without consent.
In a 39-page decision late Thursday, Davila said Apple made clear to users that the “Allow Apps to Request to Track” setting applied to “other companies’ apps and websites.”
He said that made it “implausible” for reasonable people to believe that by turning the setting off, they were withdrawing consent for Apple to collect their data through its own apps.
But the judge said users plausibly alleged they withdrew such consent by disabling the “Share [Device] Analytics” setting, citing Apple’s disclosure that users may “disable the sharing of Device Analytics altogether.”
The Cupertino, California-based company has said it collects data through that setting to improve its products and services.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday. Apple and its lawyers did not immediately respond to similar requests.
The case is In re Apple Data Privacy Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 22-07069.
