Apple has a big winner in the AI ​​era. And it’s not her, but OpenAI

In 2008, Sam Altman, then 23, appeared at an Apple developer conference. He did this to talk about his mobile app Loopt, a kind of Foursquare that lets you keep track of your friends. He may return to the WWDC stage 16 years later, although if he does, it will be for very different reasons and, above all, from a completely different position. And even if you don’t, your company will likely be the star of this conference.

Apple needs (for now) OpenAI. As Bloomberg noted, Sam Altman is currently the CEO of OpenAI, a company that leads the generative artificial intelligence segment. Apple has been trying to catch up in this area for some time now, but at the moment it can’t do it alone. A startling announcement is expected to be made at WWDC 2024, which takes place next Monday, June 10: an alliance between Apple and OpenAI.

Friends for a while. Doug Kittlaus, co-founder of Siri before the company was acquired by Apple, makes it clear that this will be a “short to medium term relationship. You can be sure that they are working to build their own competencies here.” This is obvious, since Apple currently cannot compete in this market on its own, but it is undoubtedly trying to create its own alternative to ChatGPT.

Apple is developing its own ChatGPT. Once ChatGPT launched in November 2022, Apple hired small teams to work in its artificial intelligence and software development divisions. The goal is to offer a valid alternative that does not seem ready to take the stage at the moment. For this project, which many have already dubbed AppleGPT, the company uses a framework called Ajax.

But there are internal conflicts. At this point, you’d think that a company with the resources of Apple could launch its own competitor to ChatGPT, but it doesn’t seem like that’s the case. In The Wall Street Journal, they explain how their efforts were compromised by internal divisions. John Giannandrea, who headed this division, did not have access to the necessary computing resources. Moreover, Craig Federighi, head of the software department, was not involved in these projects. The emergence of ChatGPT changed the situation and, according to sources close to the company, efforts have been combined, but the results are not yet adequate enough to launch in the market.

If you can’t defeat your enemy… Those in charge at Apple appear to have an artificial intelligence model capable of performing tasks such as transcribing voice messages or editing photos. These features will likely be part of the local AI we can use on the iPhone or Mac, but Apple won’t be able to compete with OpenAI or Google’s chatbots. As a result, he entered into an alliance with the first.

OpenAI looks like a big winner. The deal is likely to be particularly beneficial for OpenAI, which will gain enormous exposure by being available on all Apple devices. If they needed a way to expand their business and popularity, this seems like the best way.

And in the future, robotic devices. Bloomberg also notes that Apple is moving beyond chatbots. The company intends to use LLM as an integral part of “a pair of robotic devices” it is secretly developing, sources close to the projects say. One of them will be a robotic arm with a screen similar to that of an iPad. The other is a mobile robot that can monitor users and respond to their queries.

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