OpenAI Acquires Apple Shortcuts Creators for Deep Mac Integration in ChatGPT

OpenAI has announced the acquisition of Software Applications Incorporated and its AI application Sky. Software Applications was founded by former Apple employees who worked on the Shortcuts feature and its predecessor, the Workflow app. The founders of Software Applications, Ari Weinstein and Konrad Kramer, were also co-founders of Workflow, a popular automation app on iOS, which Apple acquired in 2017. After that, Weinstein and Kramer joined Apple, where they laid the groundwork for the Shortcuts feature available on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Kramer left the company in 2019, and Weinstein in 2023, after which they, along with their team, began working on Sky. Although Sky has not officially launched yet, it is an AI-based assistant for Mac that can answer questions and perform tasks in any open window. OpenAI plans to integrate deep macOS support for Sky into ChatGPT, and all members of the Sky team, including Weinstein and Kramer, will join OpenAI. This will enable the creation of a more intuitive and customizable computer experience using large language models.

Ari Weinstein noted that their goal is to make computers more inspiring and user-friendly. Sky is an AI experience that "floats" above the desktop and helps users think and create. Joining OpenAI opens new opportunities to realize this vision so that it can assist hundreds of millions of people.

The acquisition of Sky occurred just a day after the announcement of ChatGPT Atlas—a new browser designed to compete with Safari and Chrome. ChatGPT Atlas can perform tasks on behalf of the user using the AI Operator ChatGPT features, but Sky has the potential to further expand these capabilities in the future.