Apple Is Officially Entering the AI Battle. A Game Changer or Late Entry?
Apple has reportedly been developing its own generative AI competitor to challenge the likes of Open AI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, and Microsoft’s Bing AI. A Bloomberg News report stated that the tech powerhouses’ chatbot is being called “Apple GPT.”
What do we know so far?
Apple has developed a framework, reportedly called “Ajax”, to create large language models (LLMs) to power its upcoming chatbot. Competitors’ chatbots, such as ChatGPT and Bard, utilize GPT and PaLM LLMs, respectively, as the basis for their chatbots. According to Bloomberg News, the company has not yet announced a specific release date for these features to the general public. Nevertheless, Apple lovers will be thrilled to learn that some employees at Apple have indicated the company plans to make a huge announcement regarding Apple AI in the following year. While the announcement is still a long time away, we are hoping to learn more and more about the company’s AI plans in the near future.
The “Ajax” framework uses tools from companies like Google to help build and run its systems. The framework is built on Google Jax and runs on Google Cloud. Apple has not yet made the chatbot available to the public but has been rolling it out for employees, with some sort of approval, to utilize. However, very little information on the chatbot’s capabilities besides being able to answer questions and assist with product development has been reported.
What does this mean for the AI competition?
Apple, one of the largest tech companies in the world, makes hundreds of billions of dollars a year, however, they have notably been missing in the battle for AI dominance. Years ago, Apple created its AI voice assistant, Siri, which has been at the forefront of the company’s AI movement in the past.
Despite the ongoing AI revolution, the company has been relatively silent compared to other industry leaders such as OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Meta (formerly known as Facebook), to name a few. These companies have made significant strides in AI technologies, ranging from chatbots to music generation.
Apple’s entrance into this competitive world of AI signals a huge threat to other top companies. Apple, from creating its illustrious iPhones to MacBooks, has amassed a huge consumer platform that will surely disrupt the AI market. Although they don't seem to be rushing to put out any generative AI products, they could easily deploy such products to their devices. Around 1.4 billion people worldwide — over 20% of smartphone users — are active iPhone users, meaning any AI product can easily be integrated through software updates on their iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and MacBooks.
Why is Apple so late to the AI revolution?
ChatGPT and other remarkable AI technologies have now become household names in our daily lives. ChatGPT is frequently utilized by individuals seeking new product ideas or learning something new. Then why is Apple nowhere to be found in this revolution? To fully understand this we have to understand Apple’s philosophies and values.
Amplifying user experience
Apple’s philosophy has long been centered around bringing the best user experience they can through the software and hardware products they put out. Apple’s mission statement reflects this philosophy: “bringing the best user experience to customers through innovative hardware, software, and services.”
The company is likely not releasing AI products to spend time to fully develop and test the products and prevent a premature release. Apple CEO Tim Cook has been talking about the enormous potential for AI technologies for some time now. However, he mentioned how the company was looking to deploy such products on a “thoughtful basis,” according to Bloomberg News.
Privacy concerns and precautions
Apple’s focus on privacy and addressing security concerns has remained a central piece of the company’s values and beliefs. Apple utilizes various techniques, including end-to-end encryption, to minimize the amount of data that can be obtained by hackers. As a result, Apple has been taking on its AI-based endeavors slowly to ensure security issues are handled.
The tech giant has adopted an interesting technique to further enhance the privacy features of its AI products. Unlike cloud-based AI, which can be run on cloud servers from anywhere with an internet connection, Apple has resorted to on-device AI. This novel approach to deploying AI models involves running the AI on the device itself rather than a server or supercomputer. This approach allows Apple to effectively remove a number of privacy concerns by eliminating the need for extensive data sharing and having the algorithms operate locally on users’ devices.
Furthermore, Apple has been limiting the usage of chatbots in its workspace. The company has forbidden its employees from consulting with ChatGPT, citing concerns over releasing confidential information about its projects and endeavors. Apple CEO Tim Cook has also voiced concerns over the inherent bias within chatbots and the potential for misinformation that could be detrimental to all users.
What new features could come from Apple AI?
By leveraging its already extensive user base, Apple can disrupt the AI market by introducing new features, on top of the already existing prompting and answering features, that would be difficult for other leading tech companies to replicate. Apple's market is huge — the company has billions of users worldwide and made almost $400 billion last year alone. This enormous consumer market could mean rolling out innovative AI products to users on iOS devices in ways competing companies would not be able to.
Enhanced Siri Integration
Apple’s virtual assistant, Siri, has become a staple of the company’s services along with its smart home ecosystem. Siri launched back in 2011 and became the first modern virtual assistant of its kind. While Siri may have strayed away from Apple’s main plans in the last few years, the emergence of new AI technologies presents a new opportunity for Siri to thrive as a virtual assistant.
To enhance the user experience with Siri, Apple may consider utilizing AI technology to boost the assistant's question-and-answer capabilities. By leveraging AI, Siri could develop a deeper contextual understanding of the user's inquiry and generate a response tailored specifically to the current question. This could work similarly to how chatbots like ChatGPT and Bard can remember and utilize information in previous queries to assist the user in the next prompt.
With the help of AI technologies, Siri has the potential to become even more personable by responding to users in their natural tone, offering personalized recommendations based on their habits and queries, and even speaking in a particular accent or manner that is more meaningful to the user, such as a beloved friend or relative.
Health and Fitness
Apple has an arsenal of health-related products ranging from the Apple Watch to its health app, both empowering users to take charge of their well-being and lead healthier lives. With the introduction of AI into these health products, Apple has the potential to significantly improve the products’ interpretation and computation power. AI could predict health patterns in a much more reliable way and could utilize this predictive power in order to suggest lifestyle changes that could be beneficial to a user.
Conclusion
Apple’s reported development of its own generative AI competitor, tentatively called “Apple GPT,” signifies a significant shift in the company’s AI strategy while reshaping the narrative in the world of AI. While the company has been relatively quiet compared to other tech industry giants in the AI revolution, its entrance into this competitive landscape marks a considerable challenge to existing players. It’s interesting to see how they will fare in this fiercely contested AI landscape. The potential success of Apple is an inspiring prospect, particularly considering its formidable track record in user-centric design and steadfast commitment to privacy. As the Cupertino-based tech behemoth prepares to leverage its vast consumer base, integrating revolutionary AI technologies into its existing iOS ecosystem could potentially redefine user experiences across its suite of devices. It will be interesting to witness their progress in this challenging undertaking.
