Apple’s Siri is not the reply to ChatGPT, however the firm could also be engaged on a direct competitor – Apple GPT.
That Apple is working by itself generative AI, Massive Language Mannequin (LLM) and doable ChatGPT rival ought to come as no shock. Positive, the information relies on a Bloomberg report and Apple is predictably mum on the matter however, significantly, how may the Cupertino tech big not be working by itself generative AI?
Based on the Bloomberg report, Apple is basing its ultra-secret challenge on a studying framework often known as Ajax, from rival and generally pal Google.
The hassle to construct some kind of chatbot and possibly different generative AI programs has been happening since late final yr however, as somebody who attended Apple’s WWDC 2023 can inform you, Apple made no point out of chatbots of any form on the June developer’s convention.
Privateness roadblock
Apple’s hyper-focus on person privateness has, as I see it, considerably hamstrung its efforts to carry any form of LLM-based chatbot to customers. ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Microsoft Bing are all cloud-connected and ship queries out to distant servers for fast interpretation and response (based mostly on the LLM’s huge data of how precise people would possibly reply beneath comparable circumstances).
That, after all, shouldn’t be the Apple approach. Its Apple Silicon A16 Bionic’s Neural Community is native. It does Machine Studying in your finest iPhone. Sending queries with all these presumably private particulars is anathema to Apple’s privateness rules.
And but, Apple clearly can not afford to avoid the siren name of generative AI. It’s a revolution that’s consuming the tech trade and the pursuits of common customers and companies. Even with the extraordinary scrutiny AI improvement is beneath and the lawsuits a few of it’s going through, nobody believes AI improvement is all of the sudden going to cease or go away.
Apple has even gone so far as, in accordance with Bloomberg, creating its personal chatbot, or AppleGPT. However that is principally a extremely restricted and inside take a look at and apparently not one which’s ever headed to client desktops.
What about Siri?
The place does Siri sit in all this?
Bloomberg claims that the Ajax work has already been used to enhance Siri. That could be so, however the one Siri enchancment we’re getting with iOS 17 (at present in public beta) is the flexibility to cease beginning every voice assistant immediate with “Hey.”
I’ve little doubt that Apple is tough at work determining its place within the LLM AI sphere, however it’s additionally clear from the report that these are early days. There isn’t any overarching technique, and I doubt the existential query of whether or not or not Siri may ever host Apple GPT (or no matter it is referred to as) has been answered.
Finally, that is affirmation that Apple is simply as conscious of what is going on on round it and with rivals as ever. It would pattern and take a look at, develop and take a look at, scrap and develop, after which take a look at some extra. I do not anticipate Apple to inform us something about this through the anticipated September launch of the iPhone 15. Nevertheless, by the point WWDC 2024 rolls round, Apple is likely to be able to unveil a brand new platform. Possibly it’s going to be AppleGPT-kit, AppleLLM-Package, and even AppleGPT.
This assumes that Apple can resolve its large privateness query. If not, AppleGPT may stay in Skunkworks indefinitely.
