OpenAI has acquired Software Applications Incorporated (SAI), perhaps best known for the core team that produced what became Shortcuts on Apple platforms. More recently, the team has been working on Sky, a context-aware AI interface layer on top of macOS. The financial terms of the acquisition have not been publicly disclosed.
"AI progress isn't only about advancing intelligence—it's about unlocking it through interfaces that understand context, adapt to your intent, and work seamlessly," an OpenAI rep wrote in the company's blog post about the acquisition. The post goes on to specify that OpenAI plans to "bring Sky's deep macOS integration and product craft into ChatGPT, and all members of the team will join OpenAI."
...Sky, which leverages Apple APIs and accessibility features to provide context about what's on screen to a large language model; the LLM takes plain language user commands and executes them across multiple applications. At its best, the tool aimed to be a bit like Shortcuts, but with no setup, generating workflows on the fly based on user prompts.
It bears some resemblance to features of Atlas, the ChatGPT-driven web browser that OpenAI launched earlier this week, and this acquisition piles on even more evidence that OpenAI has ambitions beyond a question-and-answer chatbot.
OpenAI can use the SAI team's knowledge of the macOS platform to develop new ways for ChatGPT not just to make suggestions about, but to agentically work directly on users' macOS environments.
(Score: 3, Informative) by corey on Wednesday October 29, @08:29PM (2 children)
I love macOS on my MacBook Pro. But I’ll stop it getting updates if this is inbound. Do not want.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Booga1 on Wednesday October 29, @09:45PM
The AI companies have already hoovered all the data they can off the internet. Now they're coming after all your devices.
Sadly, almost all the tech companies seem onboard with it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Rich on Wednesday October 29, @11:44PM
How can anyone love any macOS newer than Snow Leopard? Stockholm syndrome? Loss aversion after spending five grand?
That aside, these people are not from Apple. They have been there after their company was bought, but left after a while. Now they were picked up because of their knowledge about Mac automation. Kind of how Dave Winer would have been picked up for his work on UserLand Frontier if the Mac was still Classic.
It will be interesting to see what Apple does when someone wants to move in on their Apple Intelligence turf.