Today, OpenAI announced the acquisition of a company calledSoftware ApplicationsA start-up company founded by several senior Apple employees, it is committed to creating an AI-driven user interface for Mac. Bloomberg analyzed that this acquisition is an important step taken by OpenAI in making AI "better complete tasks on computers."
As part of this acquisition, OpenAI will integrate Sky, the AI assistant created by Software Applications, into ChatGPT, including this productIntegration capabilities on macOS and its product design philosophy. At the same time, the entire Software Applications team will join OpenAI. Specific financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Software Applications was previously awarded in January 2023$6.5 millionseed round financing, investors includeOpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Figma CEO Dylan Fieldand other famous people. OpenAI specifically emphasized that the acquisition of Software Applications was led by two other senior executives of the company and approved by the Independent Transaction and Audit Committee.
Earlier this year, Software Applications released an AI assistant called "Sky" that can help users perform tasks or answer questions on Mac, such as writing, planning, programming, etc. The feature uses a floating interface design that understands what's on the user's screen and uses applications directly to perform tasks. Sky is not currently open to the public.
It is worth noting that the founding team of Software Applications has already had a high-profile successful cash-out before.
Software Applications AssociationCo-founder and CEO is Ari Weinstein,Co-founder and CTO is Conrad Kramer. The two co-founded the automation app Workflow around 2013 and sold it to Apple in 2017.
The app later evolved into the popular app now available on iPhone and Mac"Shortcuts" technology. After being acquired by Apple, they all worked at Apple for a period of time, and then left in August 2023 to start Software Applications.
Another from Software ApplicationsCo-founder and COO Kim BeverettPreviously, he was a senior project and product manager at Apple. Before joining Apple, she was responsible for operations at active search engine company Cue.
In 2013, after Apple acquired Cue, she joined Apple and worked there for nearly 10 years.He has participated in the development of multiple core products, including Safari, WebKit, privacy protection functions, Messages, Mail, Phone, FaceTime and SharePlay, etc.
Nick Turley, head of the OpenAI ChatGPT team, said he was "in awe" when Ari Weinstein showed him Sky's capabilities. “Sky really brought some of the concepts we had been dreaming up to reality,” Turley said.
Turley added: "Our goal is to make ChatGPT not just a conversational tool that responds to prompt words, but an intelligent assistant that can actually complete tasks for you. Enabling AI to interact with native applications is an important step in realizing this vision."
Conclusion: OpenAI M&A Acceleration
OpenAI is actively expanding its territory through mergers and acquisitions recently. Earlier this year, the company was valued at $500 billion in a secondary market share transaction. OpenAI has since acquired product testing company Statsig for $1.1 billion and completed an approximately $6.5 billion acquisition of the AI hardware startup co-founded by former Apple design director Jony Ive — both all-stock transactions. In addition, OpenAI has made a number of smaller acquisitions.
By absorbing the Software Applications team's product capabilities and macOS' deep integration experience, OpenAI may hope to further promote ChatGPT's evolution from conversational AI to a personal assistant that truly understands the context, operating system, and user intentions.