OpenAI says ChatGPT-in-Siri ‘persistently underperforming’ in antitrust filing

OpenAI told a Texas federal court that its ChatGPT integration inside Siri / Apple Intelligence has persistently underperformed, according to a September 22, 2026 summary-judgment brief first highlighted by MacRumors (Juli Clover) and 9to5Mac (Marcus Mendes, citing the Financial Times and Reuters).

The filing is OpenAI’s Brief in Support of Its Motion for Summary Judgment in X Corp. and SpaceXAI LLC v. Apple Inc. et al., No. 4:25-cv-00914-P (N.D. Tex., Fort Worth). Figures for usage and foreclosure shares are heavily redacted in the public PDF — treat those blanks as unknown, not zero.

These are OpenAI’s court-attributed claims and expert arguments, not confirmed product metrics from Apple.

What OpenAI says happened after launch

Apple switched on ChatGPT as an optional Apple Intelligence / Siri extension on December 11, 2024. Per the brief (and MacRumors’ read of it):

• The integration is off by default. Users must complete a multistep opt-in in Siri or Settings — friction OpenAI ties to weak uptake.
• By January 2025, OpenAI said the rollout appeared “off to a slow start” and cut forecasts for incremental logged-in weekly active users expected from the partnership.
• By the time SpaceXAI (then xAI) sued in August 2025, OpenAI wrote it was clear Apple’s ChatGPT integration was “dramatically underperforming.”
• On March 25, 2026, with the integration still “persistently underperforming,” OpenAI described a further conversation with Apple that remains redacted in the public filing.

9to5Mac, citing the Financial Times, adds that OpenAI had expected a “halo effect” — brand association plus more subscriptions from Apple Intelligence users — that the company says did not materialize at the scale it hoped.

Exclusivity refused — and Google entered the picture

OpenAI says it asked Apple for a two-year exclusivity period during 2024 negotiations; Apple refused. The Service Integration Agreement’s “Apple Discretion; Non-Exclusivity” section, as quoted in the brief, has OpenAI acknowledging the deal is non-exclusive and that Apple may integrate similar products or services — or build its own.

That framing is central to OpenAI’s defense against SpaceXAI’s exclusive-dealing theory. The brief also notes Apple’s January 12, 2026 multi-year collaboration with Google, under which next-generation Apple Foundation Models would be based on Gemini and help power future Apple Intelligence features, including a more personalized Siri. OpenAI argues that partnership undercuts any claim of locked-in ChatGPT exclusivity.

Why this matters in the lawsuit

SpaceXAI and X alleged that Apple and OpenAI locked rivals such as Grok out of a privileged Siri / Apple Intelligence channel. OpenAI’s brief counters that:

• There was no exclusive deal.
• Even assuming some foreclosure, OpenAI’s expert (Dr. Catherine Tucker) calculated foreclosure shares that are redacted in the public copy — OpenAI calls them de minimis and consistent with “minimal usage” of ChatGPT through Apple Intelligence.
• SpaceX’s own IPO disclosures, OpenAI argues (via Reuters as summarized by 9to5Mac), are “diametrically opposed” to the competitive harm plaintiffs allege.

Musk’s companies already dropped Apple from the suit earlier this month, leaving OpenAI as the sole remaining defendant. OpenAI now asks Judge Mark Pittman to grant summary judgment and toss the claims before the trial currently planned for January 2027.

What remains unknown

• Exact WAUs, subscription lifts, and foreclosure percentages stay [REDACTED] in the public brief.
• Apple has not, in these secondary reports, published matching adoption numbers that independently confirm OpenAI’s internal view.
• Whether the court grants pretrial dismissal is still ahead — this piece reports what OpenAI argued, not what the court has decided.

Sources: Court PDF — OpenAI MSJ brief (Doc. 403, Sept. 22, 2026); MacRumors — Juli Clover (Sept. 23, 2026); 9to5Mac — Marcus Mendes (FT / Reuters attribution).