OpenAI Acquires Mac-Focused UI Startup To Boost ChatGPT’s Desktop Capabilities: Report

• According to a Bloomberg News report, Software Applications was founded in 2023 by a group of former Apple employees.
• The report noted that OpenAI looks forward to using the Software Applications’ technology in ChatGPT and bringing on its entire team of roughly a dozen people.
• Bloomberg reported that Software Applications had raised $6.5 million in funding from a group of notable investors, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Figma CEO Dylan Field.

OpenAI has reportedly acquired Software Applications Inc., a startup developing an AI-driven user interface for Mac desktops, as it expands its efforts to enhance how ChatGPT and other AI tools handle tasks on personal computers.

According to a Bloomberg News report, Software Applications was founded in 2023 by a group of former Apple (AAPL) employees. The report added that some of these employees were those who designed the technology behind the iPhone’s Shortcuts app.

Use Of Software Applications’ Technology

The report noted that OpenAI looks forward to using Software Applications’ technology in ChatGPT and bringing on its entire team of roughly a dozen people. Bloomberg reported that the financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

It added that Software Applications had raised $6.5 million in funding from a group of notable investors, which also included OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Figma CEO Dylan Field. 

According to the report, the funding transaction had received approval from the board’s independent transaction and audit committees.

Executive Take On Software Applications’ AI Assistant Sky

Bloomberg added that in 2025, Software Applications announced an AI assistant called Sky, designed to help users take actions or answer questions. The feature includes a floating interface that overlays the Mac desktop and can interpret on-screen content, it said. Sky is not available to the public.

Nick Turley, who runs OpenAI’s ChatGPT team, said that he was “blown away” when Software Applications CEO Ari Weinstein demonstrated Sky for him. The feature, Turley said, “was able to bring to life” certain ideas OpenAI had already been thinking about, according to the report.

“We want to go way beyond responding to your prompts and move into a world where ChatGPT can actually do stuff for you,” Turley told Bloomberg in an interview. “Being able to act on your local applications is a huge part of that.”

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