Apple is sparing no expense in its quest to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) tools, with insiders revealing that the company is funneling substantial funds into this endeavor, reports The Information.
Even though Apple perceives itself as its own closest rival, as evidenced by its decision to launch Vision Pro when the fervor surrounding AR/VR technology had waned, the sheer scale of Apple’s investments underscores the impact of the tech industry’s shift toward generative AI. This shift is particularly noteworthy considering the recent prominence of OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT.
However, Apple’s journey into AI predates the emergence of chatbots on the scene. Approximately four years ago, Apple’s AI chief, John Giannandrea, assembled a team tasked with developing conversational AI, much akin to ChatGPT. Among the ranks of this Apple team are roughly 16 individuals, including several former Google engineers, with Giannandrea at the helm.
A Daily Multimillion-Dollar Investment
Apple has been integrating AI into various areas of its products, such as the Apple Watch, which boasts features like Fall Detection, Crash Detection, and continuous heart rate monitoring. Naturally, Apple’s AI-powered voice assistant, Siri, is also receiving a facelift, as reported by The Information.
The objective is to empower iPhone users to issue commands to Siri, automating multi-step tasks. According to the report, this technology could enable users to instruct Siri to create a GIF using their five most recent photos and send it to a friend, eliminating the need for manual programming of individual actions, as is the case today.
Apple’s teams are diligently working on numerous models and tools, aiming to generate video, images, and textual responses to user queries. Another team is focused on developing a chatbot designed to “interact with customers who use AppleCare,” The Information revealed.
Ajax: Mightier than GPT
Under the leadership of Tim Cook, is in the process of crafting a colossal language model (LLM) dubbed ‘Ajax.’ Ajax is poised to directly compete with OpenAI’s GPT-3 and GPT-4, Google’s Bert and LaMDA, as well as Meta’s LLaMa-1 and LLaMa-2.
Apple already possesses a chatbot referred to as ‘Apple GPT’ that operates on the Ajax platform and is exclusively employed in-house by Apple employees for product prototyping. Ajax’s training reportedly encompasses over 200 billion parameters, asserting its superiority over OpenAI’s GPT-3.5.
While these insights have been gleaned from conversations with individuals within the company, the unveiling of generative AI tools, models, or services by Apple on September 12, coinciding with the iPhone 15 launch, appears unlikely. Apple typically reserves major development announcements for its annual World Wide Developer’s Conference in June.
