Apple sees a late arrival to the generative AI party

Apple has created its own generative AI tools to compete with LLM (large language model) services like ChatGPT or Google Bard. Bloomberg Reported on Wednesday.

Bloomberg (which has also reported today on Apple’s plan to buy Disney), says that Apple has created its own internal framework for building the LLM model.

• That model, ‘Ajax’, has been used to build a chatbot service which is apparently called ‘Apple GPT’ internally.
• The latter tool, which runs on Google Cloud, is said to have features similar to popular LLM services.
• This means that it can answer questions based on the data it has been trained on, summarize text, and so on.
• The current version runs as a web application and is used internally for product prototyping.

“The chatbot app was created late last year as an experiment by a small technical team,” Bloomberg Says, “None of its outputs can be used to develop features intended for customers.”

No plans to go to market yet

Apple executives don’t yet have a clear strategy for how to bring it to market, but they’ll be feeling some pressure. What has become one of the most successful product launches in generative AI history The big story of 2023 behind ChatGPT. While this powerful technology has flaws and governments around the world have begun to investigate the ethical use of the technology, most software developers create tools that use it. Microsoft with Bing/OpenAI, Google with Bard and Meta, and Qualcomm with Lama 2.

For example, Adobe has introduced its own highly targeted implementation of generative AI in its creative products.

While Apple has incorporated AI into all of its products, it actually had no stake in the game. Apple CEO Tim Cook instead warned that there are “problems” related to the use of the technology that must be addressed. He also said that Apple would “very thoughtfully” incorporate AI into its products.

Bloomberg It is now claimed that Apple is planning to make a big announcement related to AI in 2024.

Trojan War

Interesting to think about the name. As Siri might be able to tell you, Ajax is a classic Greek hero of the Trojan Wars who lived in Iliad, A great warrior with immense courage, Ajax is described as strong, powerful, and very clever.

At the very least, the name selection is different from Californian vacation spots and may reflect the scale that Apple is looking to achieve. Because it may seem like Apple is late to the party, Apple has excellent resources to make this technology a success.

Its biggest advantage is the search data the company collects to support Spotlight. In addition, the company has access to high-quality, but anonymized information regarding the intent of the search.

But, perhaps more importantly, any LLM technology that Apple ultimately chooses to implement will have access to all of a person’s device information and the machine intelligence-supporting neural engines contained within each device.

In other words, LLM will have access to a person’s personal information to generate accurate and relevant responses and will be able to do so without any personal information ever leaving the device or being shared with Apple.

All that is needed is to identify what tasks people need the technology to perform, and then create the relevant framework. (I’m thinking of generic AI-based image editing in Photos, for example.)

Encouraging Entrepreneurship?

Privacy isn’t just an advantage in consumer markets; It also matters within the company. Concerned about protecting company data, large enterprises including Apple, Samsung and others have banned employees from using ChatGPT or GitHub Copilot internally.

The desire to use these tools is present, but not at the expense of corporate privacy. In the context of Apple’s growing stature in corporate IT, the eventual launch of LLM services that could deliver powerful results also include privacy protections, meaning the company can provide tools for enterprise employees to use.

Not only that, but those tools can display a level of personal contextual relevancy that’s not available elsewhere – without sharing important personal data with others.

So there’s a lot of optimism; After all, this isn’t the first time that Apple is late to the party and then offers a better experience than elsewhere.

This optimism was quickly echoed by investors. Bank of America raised its Apple target from $190 to $210 per share, warning that the next iPhone won’t be shipped until October. Credit Suisse raised its price target on Apple from $20 to $220 per share.

The news caused Apple’s stock to reach $197.32 and then closed at approximately $193 per share.

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