why does OpenAi buy Mac mini?

[u/FormalAd7367]

i just don’t see the use case for them. other than web crawling ?

[u/tat_tvam_asshole]

It's for creating training data for computer use.

[u/tat_tvam_asshole → u/[deleted]]

preciated

[u/jensilo → u/[deleted]]

But what about the big conspiracy?

[u/smithy_dll → u/tat_tvam_asshole]

The only way to train using macOS is with a mac.
But there are other uses, such as app development, build farms, and testing (they have an iOS app).
Model capability testing, security research.
This blog post from Microsoft outlines what the Office team were using macs for in 2006.
David Weiss: A Tour of Microsoft's Mac Lab

The simplest explanation is the most likely, Occam's razor.

[u/tat_tvam_asshole → u/smithy_dll]

No need to speculate

OpenAI reportedly bought tens of thousands of Apple Mac Minis and Mac Studios to use for reinforcement learning model training and "computer-use" AI agents that can click through interfaces and complete computer tasks.

[u/OkFly3388 → u/tat_tvam_asshole]

Yea, virtual machine software does not exists in current universe

/s

[u/jubilantcoffin → u/OkFly3388]

macOS has severe restrictions here, which matter if you don't want to openly break the license.

[u/yourmomhatesyoualot → u/OkFly3388]

Yes but VMs are not fully functional machines regarding macOS. You cannot manage them with automated MDM enrollment and you cannot violate Apple’s TOS regarding VM utilization on them.

[u/OkFly3388 → u/yourmomhatesyoualot]

Oh, yea, sure, they are just regular individuals, not giant company that can make deal with another giant company and together developed actual solution for that. How can I forget about that to.

/s

[u/yourmomhatesyoualot → u/OkFly3388]

You're presuming a lot. I've actually worked with Apple at a large scale on behalf of enterprise and edu clients and Apple DGAF about anything other than their bottom line. If you want to use Apple devices, you play by Apple's rules.

[u/OkFly3388]

Because its cheaper for them to buy all macs now then let users have self hosted alternatives in future.

[u/Practical-Collar3063 → u/OkFly3388]

I think we assume that we are much more important than we are, I think your comment is probably at least partially sarcastic but if it is not, I don’t think the people running local models « hurting » their profits are even considered by big AI

[u/OkFly3388 → u/Practical-Collar3063]

They are forced to keep price low only because competition exists, thats just how market works.

They sure trying to lobby for protection against Chinese models and at the same time they trying to destroy local alternatives.

When all of this will be done, both api and subscription price will skyrocket.

[u/Practical-Collar3063 → u/OkFly3388]

They sure trying to lobby for protection against Chinese models and at the same time they trying to destroy local alternatives.

Those are 2 completely different concepts and on very different tiers of priority for OpenAI or Anthropic. They are 100% trying to derail Chinese efforts because they are loosing customers to Qwen, DeepSeek or Kimi. However, they are loosing customers due to API pricing not really to the people running AI models locally. We are niche, those big corpos do not consciously cater nor hinder niches, it is a waste of time for them. We are not important to them, we just catch stray bullets

[u/Green-Rule-1292 → u/OkFly3388]

The funny thing is that people still won't need proprietary LLM gatekeepers such as OpenAI in the future so they won't ever be able to do anything more than delaying the inevitable a few years at best.

The sad thing is that it might just be enough for them to survive their IPO and get their dirty little hands on new funds to keep financing their BS for several more years...

[u/Cautious_Chicken_604]

They hired they OpenClaw dude.

[u/Infamous-Bed-7535]

Maybe they just want to push further the prices of products that could serve capable local models, so more people choose to use their services until IPO..

[u/ImportancePitiful795]

So you won't be able to run LLM at home. Same thing is doing with buying 50% of the DRAM waffers from Samsung & SK Hynix, just storing them in a warehouse, so other companies won't be able to build servers, or you a larger server at home.

[u/misha1350]

Because they're run by completely tech illiterate people with no sense of how finances work.

Small wonder the chinese unicorns create killer models and run them on domestically produced cheap hardware. OpenAI and Anthropic won't be around for long.

[u/Nice_Cellist_7595]

MacOS is the only way to get access to things like "blue" texting and accessing certain aspects of the Apple eco system. See the announcement about Chat GPT being able to use iMessage.

[u/Weeblewobbly]

So you can't

[u/MrCatberry]

My guess: So nobody else can buy them before them.

I really believe that Sam Altman is an asshole at this point that just wants to make sure he slows done every competitor (this includes the local guys) until he can figure out a way to make his own LLM profitable in any way.
In my opinion that ship has sailed and he just wants scorched earth now.

[u/CalligrapherFar7833]

To make it less possible for people to buy them to run local models

[u/dsdt]

Any device can be used for any purpose if you have the knowledge and resources.

Check : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3_cluster

[u/Zellione]

Didn’t even google use big Mac mini clusters back in the day for their crawlers?

[u/revolverXD]

Maybe they want the ram

Maybe it's a denial tactic

The mac mini can be used for local inference

[u/BothYou243 → u/revolverXD]

openAI won't use datacentres but mac mini for inference. Good, fair point

well done

[u/Ok_Cow1976 → u/BothYou243]

Yeah, they build or buy datacenters because there aren't enough mac mini to buy and run.

[u/BothYou243 → u/Ok_Cow1976]

🤦‍♂️

[u/BothYou243 → u/revolverXD]

"They'll scrap 16Gigs cards from each one of them, and combine them to make a bigger one" wow dude, you're genius

[u/vogelvogelvogelvogel]

imo energy efficient inference compared to nvidia

edit because of questions: 4090 i have about 400-500W with 50-70, sometimes 100t/s with qwen3.8 at q4; on the mac 't pro 64 at 33-40W 27t/s with qwen3.8 at q6 and q8 and qwen flash next, quite consistent

[u/Embarrassed-Noise269 → u/vogelvogelvogelvogel]

Is it though? Afaik Nvidia is still best when it comes to tokens per watt. I don't have any source at hand, it's more top of my head from what I read the last couple of months.

I guess there could be a nice setup with Nvidia GPUs doing the prefill and the Macs are handling the token generation. Not sure how viable that is.

[u/myidispg → u/Embarrassed-Noise269]

I don't know if it's token/watt. Nvidia GPUs are definitely faster but not sure about energy efficiency.

[u/xienze → u/myidispg]

Well there's more to it than the instantaneous power draw. Less power but dramatically longer run time (Mac) could end up being less efficient in terms of overall power draw.

And that's not even getting into the value of time spent, which is certainly an important consideration.

[u/vogelvogelvogelvogel → u/Embarrassed-Noise269]

i tested at least 4090 vs m5 pro, see above my update

[u/myidispg → u/vogelvogelvogelvogel]

I also think that Apple M Series devices are extremely energy efficient as compared to other alternatives. Atleast for the end user devices they sell. And compact also.

[u/Ok_Cow1976]

Possibly colluding with Apple. It's a double win.

[u/IngwiePhoenix]

Because it runs AI. And thus it is useful to them.

What else were you expecting?

[u/RedditCryptoGuy]

They're not only buying Mac Mini's, they're buying all the possible hardware that will be relevant for the next 3-5 years for LLMs

[u/benson_c8]

apple silicon is power efficient for inference compared to nvidia gpus.. at scale the electricity savings alone justify it for certain workloads