EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Apple has spent years and billions of dollars not-so-secretly preparing for the release of a luxurious electric vehicle with self-driving features. After years of work, the project is ultimately being canceled.
In a meeting earlier today, the company announced the change and noted that many of the engineers who were involved in “Project Titan” will join Apple’s artificial intelligence division.
Apple’s artificial intelligence
Since ChatGPT’s launch, Apple has been conspicuously quiet on the topic of artificial intelligence. That doesn’t mean that the company doesn’t have big plans in store though…
The company is developing a chatbot of its own – internally known as Apple GPT. The tool operates on a proprietary foundational model, which experts speculate will align with its brand, user experience and privacy standards.
Apple senior vice presidents John Giannandrea and Craig Federighi are leading this AI initiative. Eddy Cue, Apple’s head of services, is also involved. The group is expected to spend roughly $1 billion per year on product development.
iOS and AI
In other Apple AI projects, at least one software engineering group has been tasked with adding AI to the next version of iOS. Features will be built using the company’s LLM, trained on an extensive and diverse dataset.
The new features may improve how Siri and the Messages app can answer questions and auto-complete sentences.
For example, for Siri, AI could lead to better responses to multi-step questions. If you were to ask Siri “Who directed the movie ‘Inception’ and what other films did the director create?” with AI, Siri might be able to provide a concise, audio-based answer, followed by additional details about the director’s cinamatography.
And the Messages app could become better at predicting what users intend to type. As inputs are given, it might offer more context-aware suggestions with which to complete sentences.
Apps and AI
Apple’s software engineering teams may also integrate generative AI into development tools such as Xcode – this type of transformation could enable app developers to produce applications more quickly.
AI is expected to be added to as many apps as possible. Apple is exploring new features for Apple Music, including auto-generated playlists, a function that Spotify and OpenAI have previously collaborated on.
On-device vs. cloud deployment
One internal Apple conversation centers around how to deploy generative AI. Should it be an on-device experience in entirety, a cloud-based set-up or split between the two?
The on-device approach would operate more efficiently and help safeguard privacy. Yet, deploying Apple’s LLMs through the cloud would allow for greater agility and perhaps more advanced pursuits.
But the on-device strategy would render it more challenging for Apple to update its technology – thus, experts currently anticipate a combined approach.
Additional AI insights
At this point, generative AI is so much more than a buzzword. For more generative AI insights from experts, please see CyberTalk.org’s past coverage.
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