OpenAI buys creators of Apple Shortcuts to bring deeper Mac integration to ChatGPT

OpenAI

OpenAI has announced the acquisition of Software Applications Incorporated — the company behind the AI app Sky and founded by former Apple engineers best known for creating the Workflow app and Apple’s Shortcuts feature. The move signals OpenAI’s intention to tightly integrate ChatGPT with macOS and bring a more seamless desktop experience to users.

Software Applications Incorporated was co-founded by Ari Weinstein and Conrad Kramer, the duo who originally developed Workflow, an automation app that Apple acquired in 2017. After the acquisition, Workflow became the foundation for Apple’s Shortcuts feature, now a core part of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Kramer left Apple in 2019, while Weinstein departed in 2023 — the year they launched their new venture and began developing Sky.

Although Sky never officially launched, it was reportedly a Mac-native AI assistant capable of answering questions and performing tasks directly within any open Mac window. OpenAI plans to fold Sky’s deep macOS capabilities into ChatGPT, with Weinstein, Kramer, and the rest of the Sky team joining OpenAI to help drive this integration.

In a statement, Weinstein said, “We’ve always wanted computers to be more empowering, customisable, and intuitive. With LLMs, we can finally put the pieces together. That’s why we built Sky, an AI experience that floats over your desktop to help you think and create. We’re thrilled to join OpenAI to bring that vision to hundreds of millions of people.”

The acquisition comes just a day after OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT Atlas, its new AI-powered web browser designed to rival Safari and Chrome. While Atlas already allows ChatGPT to perform real-time web tasks, Sky’s technology could expand those capabilities further — potentially allowing ChatGPT to function as a system-wide Mac assistant with deeper control and context.