Apple is sending an observer to the board of directors of OpenAI, a leading generative AI company, the second after Microsoft, reports Bloomberg.

Phil Schiller, the head of Apple’s App Store and its former marketing chief, was chosen for the position. As a board observer, he won’t be serving as a full-fledged director.

The board observer role will put Apple on par with Microsoft Corp., OpenAI’s biggest backer and its main AI technology provider. The job allows someone to attend board meetings without being able to vote or exercise other director powers. Observers, however, do gain insights into how decisions are made at the company.

Having Microsoft and Apple sit in on board meetings could create complications for the tech giants, which have been rivals and partners over the decades. Some OpenAI board meetings will likely discuss future AI initiatives between OpenAI and Microsoft — deliberations that the latter company may want Schiller excluded from. Board observers often do oblige and exit meetings during discussions that are seen as sensitive - though Apple, as an observer, also has the right to refuse, according to The Elec.

The OpenAI integration is one component of Apple’s overall AI strategy, which also includes in-house features. Its technology — called Apple Intelligence — summarizes articles and notifications, creates custom emojis and images, and transcribes voice memos. The effort also includes a revamped version of Apple’s Siri digital assistant, but many of those enhancements won’t arrive until next year. 

Apple’s partnership with OpenAI isn’t a financial arrangement, at least for now. Instead of money changing hands, OpenAI is getting access to hundreds of millions of potential users. For its part, Apple gains a chatbot feature that many consumers are clamoring for. Users also will be able to access a paid version of ChatGPT on Apple devices, and that could generate App Store fees for the iPhone maker.