Google, Microsoft, Meta, and even Amazon have been investing heavily in generative AI for some time. They expect AI to drive tremendous change in the world and permeate every corner of the globe. But notably, one of the biggest players from Silicon Valley has been absent from the discussion: Apple. Despite its dominance in the tech sector for decades, had not yet revealed its plans for its devices and products. However, that all changed recently with the company’s announcement that an Apple and OpenAI agreement had been reached. Leveraging OpenAI’s advances, Apple would be making some major changes by fall. Apple’s new AI features would affect essentially all of its products and usher in a new era for the company. This was the news many had been anticipating for some time.
Apple’s new AI features represent a long-awaited shift for the company. Despite being known for innovation, its signature products like the iPhone have lagged behind in this category. Android phones as well as Chinese smartphone competitors have gained ground as a result. This will likely now change as a result of the Apple and OpenAI partnership. Not only will Apple utilize ChatGPT as part of its platform, but it will also enhance many of its existing features using generative AI. This of course doesn’t mean Apple will automatically top other competitors in the field. However, Apple’s presence in the generative AI conversation does further add credence to the notion that artificial intelligence is here to stay.
The Apple and OpenAI Partnership
The deal that involved an Apple and OpenAI partnership wasn’t any type of exclusive one. It’s well known that OpenAI has been heavily supported by Microsoft. In fact, it’s been Microsoft’s AI investments that have catapulted the company’s valuation above Apple. However, Open AI and Apple did reach an agreement that will enable Apple to utilize ChatGPT features. Specifically, Apple device users will have a choice to access ChatGPT for a variety of services. By giving their permission, users can then access OpenAI’s premier AI product. This places accountability and accuracy concerns on OpenAI rather than Apple. Apple’s new AI features involving ChatGPT also broadens the possible AI-based activities that iPhone and other device users can enjoy.
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The parameters of this deal are important for Apple. The company has a long and prideful reputation of protecting their customers’ privacy and personal information. The arrangement with Open AI and the use of ChatGPT thus continues to protect Apple’s customers while on an Apple platform. As a result, the Apple and OpenAI partnership enables a more supportive role for ChatGPT on Apple’s devices. In essence, this is a win-win for both companies. Apple is able to expand its generative AI features on its products. And OpenAI gains a more extensive outreach in terms of consumers as well as usage opportunities. Likewise, this could be significant for OpenAI should customers allow data for further AI training. These are some of the reasons this agreement is so interesting.
Additional AI Offerings fFrom Apple
The Apple and OpenAI partnership launches Apple onto the generative AI stage. But that’s far from the advances and innovations that the company has planned. Its new addition is being referred to as Apple Intelligence, and it will affect all existing features. In terms of Apple messaging, its generative AI systems will prioritize messages for uses and provide intelligent notifications. Apple’s new AI features will also advance writing tools that proofread, offer suggestions, and create new content. It will similarly enable a more advanced scheduling system capable of identifying conflicts that may otherwise be missed. And it will be able to browse photographs by subject and send high-resolution photos to Android devices. Each of these features will exist within Apple’s platform unrelated to OpenAI’s generative AI tools.
One of the most noteworthy upgrades from Apple’s new AI features will involve its virtual assistant Siri. Siri will receive major upgrades that will allow more conversational interactions with users. In addition, Siri will be able to recall and integrate recent conversations with users in providing answers and suggestions. And it will also be able to better access images and files to assist users with a variety of tasks. Beyond these abilities, Apple’s new AI features will also be able to provide summaries of audio recordings and create movies from photos. With written descriptions, a photo can be turned into videos based on a user’s wishes. Thus, while the Apple and OpenAI partnership jumpstarts Apple into AI, it has plans on its own for this as well.
Pursuing Generative AI a Bit Different
The knee-jerk reaction to the Apple and OpenAI partnership might be that the news is a major gamechanger in generative AI. And perhaps it will be. But this is certainly not a given considering some of the ways Apple plans to go about its AI. For one, Apple prefers to license its public content for AI training rather than use it without permission. This will naturally slow and limit the amount of AI training data available for Apple’s new AI features. The company also prefers not to publish a great deal of its own research. In the past, this has made it difficult to attract top industry talent. Despite this, Apple still has some of the best semiconductor teams in the world. This will certainly help in its generative AI endeavors.
These of course are not the only unique aspects of Apple’s new AI features. As is evident in all of Apple’s pursuits, privacy protections remain a top priority. As such, routine AI tasks that users request will be performed on the device itself and not in remote data centers. And for more complex AI tasks, Apple has designed a cloud and semiconductor network that is inaccessible by outside sources. In fact, even the company cannot access this data in its cloud, and the data is never stored. These are features that users will again appreciate as they do in using their iPhone now. Indeed, the Apple and Open AI partnership is major news. But the bigger deal will be the innovations that Apple will bring to the table in its own AI platforms.
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