Apple purportedly testing a ChatGPT-like AI tool for faster tech support

Apple is internally testing a new ChatGPT-like generative AI tool that will enable employees to offer faster technical support going forward, according to MacRumors.

The article says the pilot program provides select AppleCare support advisors with access to a new tool called “Ask” that can automatically generate responses to technical questions they receive from customers. Advisors can then relay the info to customers in online chats or on the phone.

MacRumors says”Ask” will automatically respond to a query with relevant information from Apple’s internal knowledge base, and advisors can rate an answer as “helpful” or “unhelpful.” Advisors can ask up to five follow-up questions per topic. Apple said it plans to make the tool available to more advisors in the future, after collecting feedback.

This seems to be part of Apple’s surging efforts in AI. On February 14 Apple announced a new artificial intelligence tool dubbed Apple Keyframes that can enable anyone to create animations. 

On February 7, Apple released a new open-source AI model, called “MGIE,” that can edit images based on natural language instructions. MGIE, which stands for MLLM-Guided Image Editing, leverages multimodal large language models (MLLMs) to interpret user commands and perform pixel-level manipulations.

And 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.