While Apple pushes forward with a $3,500-dollar virtual reality headset for consumers, the company was curiously quiet on where it stands with the latest tech wave of artificially-infusing software and services powered by generative Pre-training transformers during its developer conference, but it looks like they may have solution in the works.
As Microsoft, Google, IBM and more race to deliver more GPT-driven solutions to businesses and consumers, it’s been reported that Apple is also working on its own version of artificial intelligence called “Apple GPT.”
According to Bloomberg, Apple’s Apple GPT is very similar to the public version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT but built on its own “Ajax” platform. While Bloomberg’s sources asked to not be identified due to security concerns, they have explained some of the details of Apple GPT as a unification of Apple’s machine learning developments over time that have led to AI-related improvements to search, Siri, and Apple Maps, while also being the foundation to build out Large Language Models for Ajax.
Apple may have been seemingly caught off-guard by the explosion of ChatGPT use, but according to sources, the company began working on Ajax and its Apple GPT platform internally since last year, however, the company has been hesitant to market these developments as its figures out the line between privacy and convenience for its users.
While Apple typically works on its own schedule when implementing technologies, the very nature of generative pre-training transformers and large language models buttresses against the company’s staunch advocacy on privacy as well as its tendency to rely on on-device computing, unfortunately for Apple most GPT services funnel massive amounts of cloud technologies the company lacks in comparison to its would-be competitors.
Apple’s head of machine learning and IA John Giannandrea and software engineering executive Craig Federighi will be tasked with finding a consumer angle for Apple GPT for its users, and as it stands neither have a unified vision or plan to bring this level of AI to the masses.
As of now, Apple GPT is being tested amongst a small engineering team that uses it to assist with product prototyping and summarizing answers and content based on data its being fed. Unlike Bing Chat or Bard, Apple GPT is trimmed down replica that lacks a lot of the features and polish of the competition’s consumer-facing products and can only be accessed via an internal web app while it runs on Google Cloud.
Apple has publicly acknowledged the benefits and potential downsides to generative AI and large language models as it touts their use in iOS Crash Detection software, location-based emergency response systems and more, while also asking for the industry and law makers to establish guardrails and regulations alongside its adoption.