Apple tackles generative AI
Apple is working on large-scale language models, a form of artificial intelligence that can generate text, translate languages, write different types of creative content, and answer your questions in an informative way.
Apple is currently testing a rival to "Apple GPT" that could compete with ChatGPT. This model is trained on more than 200 billion parameters and is said to perform better than ChatGPT 3.5.
Apple does not yet have a clear strategy for marketing its artificial intelligence products, but the company is experimenting with several avenues, including improving Siri, developing software capable of generating videos and images, and creating of multimodal AI technologies capable of processing images, videos and text.
Apple could integrate its work on generative artificial intelligence into its Siri voice assistant, but that could take time due to Siri's current design.
Apple could also add AI to other Apple apps, like Apple Music, Xcode, Pages, and Keynote.
Apple has banned its employees from using ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot and other artificial intelligence tools over fears of confidential data leaks.
Apple competes with many other big tech companies in the field of artificial intelligence. Google has developed Bard, a chat-based AI tool. Google has also integrated generative AI into its search products and applications. Microsoft has partnered with OpenAI for a version of ChatGPT integrated into its Bing search engine. Amazon is working to improve its Alexa voice assistant with generative AI. Meta integrates generative AI into several of its applications, such as WhatsApp and Messenger.
Apple already uses artificial intelligence and machine learning for many functions in its products, including to enhance photos taken with the iPhone camera, to power Spotlight Search and search in iOS, to detect content photos, to determine if someone has been in an accident or fall, to analyze heart rate, and to power autocorrect and word suggestions.
Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, said the potential of artificial intelligence is "very exciting" but that there are a "number of issues that need to be addressed" with the technology. He explained that it is “very important to be deliberate and thoughtful” when deciding how and when to use AI.
Cook also said that AI and machine learning are "fundamental technologies essential to virtually every product" Apple has created, and that work on AI is "absolutely essential" for the company. Cook confirmed that Apple has been experimenting with generative AI "for years."
Analysts The Information and Jeff Pu say Apple will bring some form of generative AI functionality to the iPhone and iPad near the end of 2024, when iOS 18 launches.
Pu said in October that Apple was building a few hundred AI servers in 2023, and would build more in 2024. Apple would offer a combination of cloud-based AI and AI with on-device processing .
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in August that there was "no sign" of generative AI technology arriving in 2024, and he claimed that Apple's work on Generative AI was "significantly behind its competitors".
