Will Apple stand against ChatGPT plugins that are competing with the App Store?

In this edition of the "When Machines Talk" newsletter, we'll explore the latest official ChatGPT plugins available for use in the Alpha stage. Invited users can now access up-to-date information on everything from recent product prices and flight tickets to Zapier integration, which enables interaction with over 5,000 apps without writing any code.

The Expedia plugin provides instant answers to queries like, "When is the cheapest time to travel from London to New York City if the forecasted weather in NYC is sunny?" Meanwhile, the OpenTable plugin offers restaurant recommendations based on detailed questions like, "I'd like to book a fancy sushi restaurant in Brixton, London. What do you recommend?"

Interacting with chatbots represents a new human-computer interface for apps, potentially offering a more intuitive experience than traditional buttons, sliders, and other interaction elements. By directly mimicking human-to-human interaction, many new apps will likely be launched as ChatGPT plugins, putting them in direct competition with Apple's App Store.

This has led to speculation about whether Apple would allow such a move from OpenAI within its own App Store. The question arose: Would it be possible for OpenAI to launch its own App Store inside an app available for download from Apple's App Store?

We may now have an indirect answer. Apple recently approved the release of a keyboard app called CoWrite AI Chatbot Keyboard, which promotes the ability to access and use ChatGPT plugins within any iOS app, provided your OpenAI account has plugin access. For example, users can receive answers from the Expedia plugin directly while planning a trip with a friend. This approval suggests that Apple may be open to third-party apps that leverage ChatGPT plugins, even though they appear to be direct competitors to the App Store.