Apple enters the generative artificial intelligence race | Technologies

Following announcements from OpenAI and Google this week unveiling their new bets on generative artificial intelligence, all eyes in the sector are now turning to Apple. Tim Cook, the CEO of the American multinational, has just announced that he will soon unveil his first steps in this new field of artificial intelligence opened up with the advent of ChatGPT. The target date is June 10 next year, when the annual WWDC developer conference will begin, where new features will be announced for iOS 18, the next version of the iPhone operating system. In the absence of more detailed information, a slew of rumors have circulated in recent weeks, pointing to all sorts of directions the tech giant could take.

The prevailing view among analysts is that Apple’s entry into the generative AI technology race will not be in direct competition with OpenAI and Google, but rather that the iPhone maker’s actions could unbalance the competition between them for leading innovation with chatbots and Google. other artificial intelligence services. According to the latest leaks, Apple is about to enter into an agreement to integrate ChatGPT into the iPhone; although the same sources remind that negotiations with Google about the use of Gemini technology are still ongoing. For both competitors, gaining privileged access to more than one billion iPhone users would be a very important goal in their fierce rivalry.

Since the launch of the first iPhone in 2007, Google has paid Apple a significant amount – $20 billion in 2022 – to make its search engine the default in the Safari browser on Apple phones. While it is still unknown whether Apple will choose OpenAI or Google and how it will integrate its AI, most reputable analysts of Apple’s movements are leaning toward a different type of arrangement than the search engine.

So, instead of using GhatGPT or Gemini chatbots on iPhone by default, it will be about using their technology. According to Mark Gurman of Bloomberg“Talks with Google are aimed at licensing Gemini’s generative AI models to power new features coming to iPhone software later this year.” From your daily newsletter StratecheriaBen Thompson believes that Google has a more adequate infrastructure than OpenAI to handle the avalanche of traffic and processing that integration with the iOS system will entail. Meanwhile, John Gruber from the trade publication Daring Fireballstates that “Apple could enter into agreements to use multiple AI providers in the background, treating them as white label providers as it introduces these new features to users under its own Siri brand.”

Looking at daily iPhone usage, expectations for Apple’s next steps are primarily focused on thoroughly updating the Siri voice assistant to make it truly intelligent. Since Siri premiered in 2011, the day before Steve Jobs’ death, it has barely included any major new features, and while it handles simple tasks like calling a calendar contact, its voice recognition system still frequently fails. failures. requests such as playing a desired song or album. Google Assistant, or Amazon’s Alexa, overtook Siri a few years ago and is considered more efficient and smarter.

The Decline of Siri

The arrival of ChatGPT in 2022, with its much greater ability to listen, respond, and even communicate with the user, has made Apple’s lag behind rivals in the assistant space even more apparent. And this week’s OpenAI demo with its new movie-like voice conversation modality. Her and the fact that it can do things like make up a story about what is asked of it and give it the drama the user prefers, or act as a translator in multiple languages, has already left Siri squarely in the forgotten toy box.

If Apple prioritized ChatGPT or Gemini to directly communicate with iPhone users and resolve their queries, it would be the end of Siri. And Apple will lose important control over privacy, which it has made one of the main axes of its discourse in recent years. Faced with widespread perceptions that Apple is lagging in artificial intelligence, Tim Cook said during a recent presentation of its latest quarterly results: “We believe we have advantages that will differentiate us in this new era, such as Apple’s unique capabilities . “The ability to seamlessly combine hardware, software and services, such as our proprietary processors with industry-leading neural engines, as well as our unwavering focus on privacy that underpins everything we create.”

According to John Gruber, who has long made accurate predictions about new Apple announcements, “Apple’s own efforts in language models (which drive generative artificial intelligence) seem to be aimed at processing data on the device” using the capabilities of its own processors. and maintaining complete control over privacy compared to services like ChatGPT, which rely on the massive computing power of server farms in the cloud. Apple would prefer to run on each iPhone—using iOS 18 software, which will be released in September—generative AI tasks that are relatively simple but that handle highly sensitive information, such as summarizing an audio message or writing a response to an email. in line with what Samsung has already implemented in its latest mobile phones.

Privacy and Apple’s own features

Apple has the advantage over its rival that it makes its own processors for its phones, tablets and computers, and over the past year has surprised the tech industry with the speed of its evolution, going from launching the M3 processor for its MacBook Pro in just six months. to launch the next generation of M4 in the new iPad Pro, which has just gone on sale. Since 2017, Apple has included a neural core in its processors designed exclusively for performing artificial intelligence tasks on its devices; and the latest leaks indicate that the tech giant may be preparing these chips for use on its own cloud servers.

“We continue to be very optimistic about our capabilities in the field of generative artificial intelligence. “We’re making significant investments and look forward to sharing some very exciting things with our customers soon,” Tim Cook added in his recent presentation to analysts and investors. Until the presentation on June 10, with which Apple will open its annual meeting with application developers for its devices, the apple company will not make its plans public. And beyond the leaks, few concrete details can be gleaned from the acquisitions of artificial intelligence companies Apple has made in the past year or from its published research papers on language models. None of these movements were considered significant by experts.

The only thing Apple has shown without revealing its cards is that it wants to enter decisively into this area that has caused a new technological fever. “We’re investing a tremendous amount of time and effort into artificial intelligence,” Cook told investors in February. Since then, the marketing team has gone out of its way to push its devices’ capabilities in this area, making hard-to-defeat claims like “customers love the incredible AI performance in the latest MacBook Air and MacBook models.” About.”

While awaiting the true details of how Apple plans to enter the generative artificial intelligence race, the company has new resources to make a strong long-term bet after canceling a multimillion-dollar autonomous car project. and after completing development of its first mixed reality glasses, Vision Pro. While it’s a long-distance race and it’s just getting started, the new voice-assistant-powered ChatGPT and Google’s AI-powered search engine update – what a goal to imagine – indicate that what’s at stake is creating a new way to use computers, mobile phones and tablets.

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