Based on a study of LinkedIn profiles, Apple has poached dozens of artificial intelligence experts from Google and created a “secretive European laboratory” in Zurich to house a new team of staff tasked with building new artificial intelligence (AI) products, according to the Financial Times (a subscription is required to read the article).
From the article The company has long been aware of the potential of “neural networks” — a form of AI inspired by the way neurons interact in the human brain and a technology that underpins breakthrough products such as ChatGPT.
Chuck Wooters, an expert in conversational AI and LLMs who joined Apple in December 2013 and worked on Siri for almost two years, said: “During the time that I was there, one of the pushes that was happening in the Siri group was to move to a neural architecture for speech recognition. Even back then, before large language models took off, they were huge advocates of neural networks.”
Speaking of AI, a noted by Forbes, Apple has dealt a new blow to arch rival Google after making an artificial intelligence (AI ) decision that will appeal to all iPhone users. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple’s iOS 18 AI capabilities will function entirely on your iPhone, eliminating the need for cloud processing.
“The iOS 18 AI move is a huge win if you care about iPhone privacy, but it isn’t surprising, given that Apple is known for its strong focus in the area,” Kate O’Flaherty writes for Forbes. “It also sends a strong message to Apple’s biggest rival Google’s Android that the iPhone maker will do everything it can to win in the AI battlefield as competition ramps up.
iOS 18 will certainly be unveiled at this year’s Apple Worldwide Developer Conference. WWDC 2024 will be held in an online format June 10-14.
And iOS 18 is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Apple’s AI plans. Last month the tech giant acquired Canadian artificial intelligence startup DarwinAI, “adding technology to its arsenal ahead of a big push into generative AI in 2024,” reported Bloomberg.
Apple purchased the business earlier this year, and dozens of DarwinAI’s employees have joined Apple’s artificial intelligence division, the article added, quoting “ people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the deal hasn’t been announced.” Alexander Wong, an AI researcher at the University of Waterloo who helped build the business, has joined Apple as a director in its AI group as part of the deal.
DarwinAI has developed AI technology for visually inspecting components during the manufacturing process and serves customers in a range of industries. But one of its core technologies is making artificial intelligence systems smaller and faster. That work that could be helpful to Apple, which is focused on running AI on devices rather than entirely in the cloud, says Bloomberg.
In an October 23, 2023, Medium post, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said his survey indicated that Apple plans to purchase 2,000–3,000 and 18,000–20,000 units of artificial intelligence (AI) servers in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
Along the same lines, in an October 2023 “Power On” newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said that “one of the most intense and widespread endeavors at Apple Inc. right now is its effort to respond to the AI frenzy sweeping the technology industry.”
He said that, as noted before, the company built its own large language model called Ajax and rolled out an internal chatbot dubbed “Apple GPT” to test out the functionality. The critical next step is determining if the technology is up to snuff with the competition and how Apple will actually apply it to its products, according to Gurman.
He said that Apple’s senior vice presidents in charge of AI and software engineering, John Giannandrea and Craig Federighi, are spearheading the effort. On Cook’s team, they’re referred to as the “executive sponsors” of the generative AI push.
