Microsoft is giving up its observer seat on OpenAI's board, and Apple is abandoning its own short-lived bid to take an observer seat, as well.
The Financial Times reported late Tuesday that Microsoft had informed OpenAI that its decision to relinquish its board seat was "effective immediately" and that Apple would also no longer take a seat.
Apple was expected to take its own observer seat on OpenAI's board as part of their recent deal to integrate the San Francisco company's generative AI software into Apple devices, Bloomberg News reported last week.
Microsoft took the observer position in November in the wake of Sam Altman's short-lived ouster, and holding the seat gave Microsoft access to OpenAI's board meetings and confidential information without any voting power.
In a letter to OpenAI, a lawyer for Microsoft wrote that the tech giant's presence on the board was no longer needed, the Financial Times reported.
“This position provided insights into the board’s activities without compromising its independence," the letter reportedly said, and continued that “we have witnessed significant progress from the newly formed board and are confident in the company’s direction."
Moving forward, OpenAI is taking "a new approach to informing and engaging key strategic partners,” the company told the Financial Times, and will host regular meetings with investors and other partners like Apple who aren't on the board, instead.
The change in strategy could be an attempt to deflect some regulatory scrutiny.
Microsoft has invested $13 billion into OpenAI, and their partnership has also given the artificial intelligence company access to Microsoft's cloud and computing resources.
In January, European regulators said it would look into the competitive landscape of generative AI deals, including the tie-up between Microsoft and OpenAI, CNBC reported at the time.
The European Commission has since said it wouldn't pursue a merger-related probe and instead had pivoted to looking at the relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI through a more traditional antitrust lens, the Financial Times reported in June.
U.S. regulators have also divvied up various AI-related investigations.
The Department of Justice will lead an investigation into chipmaker Nvidia, while the Federal Trade Commission takes the lead on OpenAI and Microsoft.
