OpenAI Buys AI Startup That Built Interface For Apple Computers

OpenAI has acquired Software Applications Incorporated, the 12-person startup behind Sky -- an AI interface for Mac computers that can understand on-screen context and perform tasks across apps. The deal follows OpenAI's recent acquisitions of Statsig and Jony Ive's io. CNBC reports: The startup's product called Sky allows users of Mac computers to prompt it with natural language to get help with writing, coding, planning and managing their days, OpenAI said in a blog post. Sky can take actions through apps and understands what's on a user's screen.

"Sky's deep integration with the Mac accelerates our vision of bringing AI directly into the tools people use every day," Nick Turley, the head of ChatGPT at OpenAI, said in a statement. Software Applications was founded in 2023, and the company unveiled Sky in May. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman contributed to the startup's $6.5 million seed funding round, according to its website.

Re:

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Oh, you want profit? This is a surveillance spyware wrapper around the entire MacOS user experience - so if you thought Microsoft's Copilot Recall [arstechnica.com] was invasive monitoring, you haven't seen anything yet.

If Apple won't monetize a user panopticon and partner with governments to do it, OpenAI will be right there, to take the cash.

Re:

[bussdriver]

yup. All that accessibility support in the OS and apps is accelerating AI integration; I suppose all the API access AppleScript to work with objects inside apps also can become useful besides driving people nuts with the torture that is AppleScript.

Re:

[buck-yar]

Yeah but that's all known. Apple also has a history of being morally decent. Is there no alternative to a panopticon and they manage it better than other big companies. Any time I've looked at the technical aspects, it seems like they really try and do the right thing. Can't say the same thing about Microsoft, Google, etc. Ask yourself some hypotheticals. I was thinking after Musk shut off those Starlink terminals and people suggested leaving it up but f'ing with them, it would be easy to slow someone's wor

Re:

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Apple had a culture of authenticity. Culture dies pretty hard in most cases. I think we will see the last of that culture dissipate, as it eroded so greatly under Cook and Ive. Then the extractive, enshittifying corruption will spread from Apple, too.

There really was something, that began with Jobs and Woz. It wasn't perfect, and Jobs had a way of twisting ethical stances in ends-justifying-means sophistry. But Steve Jobs would never have prostrated before Trump, proffering a solid gold token.

Re:

[buck-yar]

All it has to do is take the source code of a browser, shuffle things around (obfuscate) so it looks like its something different, then call it something different and ... profit? It'd be nice if this would happen, there's a lack of competition in the browser arena. The web looks like it is shifting to proprietary, like the Flash player days. Its not cool to adhere to standards and convention, and hip to break functionality on a cadence to force updates. If you question why your current software doesn't wor

Tools need to be specific

[Big Hairy Gorilla]

I've never met a person with an idea that didn't think everyone would want it. You ask: who is the target audience(s)? Blank stare. Answer: "Everyone."

If you offer someone a tool to do one specific thing well, they want it. Commercial AI, LLMs, is all things to all people... basically a blank sheet of paper. You have to add the words, and most people are baffled as to what to do next.

These guys, this tool they think they are building will need to *understand* you, good luck fellas.

"and understands what's on a user's screen"

[oldgraybeard]

Really? So much for any privacy! So both Apple and Microsoft will now be recording everything on your computer. Just so they can helpful! Trust Us!

"Managing their days" - Eureka!

[sabbede]

That's when it struck me. AI has a problem we haven't really seen since the introduction of the home computer - not knowing what the hell it's for! Early PC marketing used to grasp at straws looking for a reason consumers would want a computer, coming up with unrealistic ideas like being a recipe book, tracking "biorhythms", or being a day planner. Well, no women wanted to retype all their recipes just to have them in a computer, biorhythms are bunk, and it would be years before there was software capabl

Bring out yer dead!

[AmazingRuss]

Bong!