OpenAI has acquired Software Applications Inc., a startup building an AI-powered user interface for Mac desktops, part of a push by the ChatGPT maker to improve how artificial intelligence tools field tasks on a computer.
Software Applications was founded in 2023 by a group of former Apple Inc. employees, some of whom helped create the technology behind the iPhone’s Shortcuts app, which is designed to speed up common functions on the smartphone. As part of the acquisition, OpenAI plans to integrate the startup’s technology into ChatGPT and bring on its entire team of roughly a dozen people. Financial terms were not disclosed.
OpenAI, valued at $500 billion in a secondary share sale this month, has moved more aggressively this year to acquire startups. The AI developer agreed to buy product testing company Statsig for $1.1 billion and completed a nearly $6.5 billion purchase of an AI device startup co-founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive, both of which were all-stock transactions. OpenAI has also made a number of smaller acquisitions.
Software Applications previously raised $6.5 million in funding from a group of notable investors, including OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman and Figma Inc. CEO Dylan Field. OpenAI said two other executives, not Altman, led the transaction, and that it was approved by the board’s independent transaction and audit committees.
Earlier this year, Software Applications announced Sky, an AI assistant designed to help users take actions or answer questions. The feature includes a floating interface over the Mac desktop that understands what’s on a user’s screen. Sky is not available to the public.
Nick Turley, who runs OpenAI’s ChatGPT team, said he was “blown away” when Software Applications CEO Ari Weinstein demonstrated Sky for him. The feature, he said, “was able to bring to life” some concepts that OpenAI had already been thinking about.
“We want to go way beyond responding to your prompts and move into a world where ChatGPT can actually do stuff for you,” Turley said in an interview. “Being able to act on your local applications is a huge part of that.
