As the world is caught up with Generative Artificial Intelligence (Generative AI), Apple officially jumped onto the bandwagon as its CEO, Tim Cook, confirmed subtly that Cupertino is indeed working on its own concept.
“In terms of Generative AI, obvioisly, we have work going on. I’m not going to get into the details about what it is, because as you know, we really don’t do that. But you can bet that we’re investing (into it – in fact,) we’re investing quite a bit. We’re going to do it responsibly. and it will be – you will see product advancements over time where those technologies are at the heart of them,” Cook shared during the Apple Q4 2023 Fiscal Results call.
What Cook shared is not new as Apple already has some AI-powered and machine-learning functions built into its mobile and smart devices. Beyond Siri, other functions include Personal Voice, Crash Detection and the Electro-Cardiogram feature. Even with its ongoing efforts, Apple had not deployed anything that is similar to any Generative AI solutions that are now being quickly adopted all over.
As reported in various technology and business news titles over last week, Apple invested extensively on this fast-growth segment of AI. Cook had been quick to add how AI and machine-learning innovations are integral to virtually every product that Apple shipped out. As per what is its typical announcement plan – details will only be released as and when new products go to market.
What can be confirmed is that Apple is already spending big on AI development and a majority of that spending is very likely on Generative AI. In an exclusive interview with Bloomberg, the fruit-based brand is on track to spend US$1 billion (~RM4.7 billion) per year on developing Generative AI products. CNBC also reported how Apple already built its own large language model (LLM) as well. This had been confirmed from a very specific job-posting:
Rumour-mills even caught on as they shared how the LLM is called Ajax and that there may be a chatbot platform as well that internal teams call AppleGPT.
It will be a while more before Apple raises the curtain on its Generative AI powered products and services. Even so, having concrete confirmation that it is already developing new concepts had already set tongues wagging.
After all, it’s more interesting and notable that Apple is officially associating itself with AI and Generative AI. It’s proactive stance on not being linked to the metaverse if very telling of the future outlook it may have on that trend, so having Cook even mention AI at all is a clear indication that Cupertino is very much on board with this trend instead.