Phil Schiller as observer on the supervisory board: OpenAI ties itself closer to Apple

Following Apple’s decision to at least partially partner with OpenAI on mobile intelligence, there should now be more intensive cooperation at the business level as well. As financial news agency Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, Apple’s once-powerful global marketing chief Phil Schiller is planned to step down A special position on the OpenAI supervisory board (Board of directors).

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On par with Microsoft – without investment

It is planned that Schiller, who now works as an “Apple Fellow” and is still responsible for the App Store, will become a so-called board observer. This means that he is not directly on OpenAI’s supervisory board, but should at least be able to attend meetings as an observer. Interestingly, this is the same position that Microsoft holds at OpenAI – and the company has already invested billions in OpenAI, while apparently not receiving any money in the Apple deal.

Schiller’s new part-time job will apparently start this year, writes Bloomberg. However, it has not yet been seen at OpenAI. Apparently the plans are not yet fully worked out. Schiller – like Microsoft’s “board observer” – is supposed to attend meetings of the supervisory board, but has no voice or other powers of the actual supervisory board. By being there Apple should learn how OpenAI works internally. It remains to be seen whether this will lead to a conflict with Microsoft. It is conceivable that the planned OpenAI initiative with the software giant will be discussed without Schiller. This would not be unusual.

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Wilder Supervisory Board at OpenAI

OpenAI’s board of directors has a very good reputation – at least in its old composition. The committee, which can act more independently than the board of directors of a purely commercial company, ensured the brief ouster of CEO Sam Altman in 2023. OpenAI was once structured as a nonprofit to create safe general artificial intelligence (AGI) for the benefit of humanity. However, the company is now highly commercially oriented, which some AI safety experts don’t like at all.

Schiller is now 64 and resigned as Apple marketing chief in 2020. Since then he has been an “Apple Fellow” and in addition to the App Store, he also has Apple’s keynotes in his portfolio. Otherwise, he serves on the supervisory board of the medical company Illumina, among other things. Apple is not only interested in working with OpenAI. In the future, other AI models will also become part of iOS and Co., including models from Google or Baidu/Alibaba in China. Some AI features will also have to be paid for.

(B.Sc.)