Tim Cook controls the iPhone, so he's the new AI kingmaker

Apple’s OpenAl deal means it acknowledges it is behind on Al, but make no mistake, it is temporary outsourcing.

- Dave Lee

Over the past 12 years, many have been desperate to share a stage with artificial intelligence (AI) wunderkind Sam Altman.

Microsoft could not wait to wheel out the OpenAI co-founder to show how ahead of the game it was; world leaders stood beside him to show how they were in the loop on the future; and conference organisers contorted their schedules to accommodate the most powerful man in the world of AI.

Yet, while Mr Altman was in attendance at Apple's developer conference on June 10, he was a spectator like almost everyone else. It was disappointing for him, you might think, because it was arguably the most significant public moment so far in OpenAI's short history: ChatGPT is on the cusp of gaining hundreds of millions of new users through the world's most popular devices.

Beginning later this year, iPhone, iPad and Mac users - if they own a sufficiently up-to-date model will be directed to ChatGPT to answer complex queries that need "world context".

The news is being framed as Apple's admission that it is behind on cutting-edge AI, turning to an outsider to fill in a feature shortfall. This is true, but only to an extent.

This partnership - call it temporary outsourcing demonstrates how, in fact, Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook may be the most powerful man in AI because he is pulling the strings on what will be the first truly mainstream AI device: the iPhone.