Apple is secretly developing a generative AI tool internally dubbed “Apple GPT” as part of ambitions to compete with solutions from OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft, according to sources close to the matter.
The company has reportedly created its own framework called Ajax, built on Google’s JAX machine learning tool, to develop large language models and power the internal chatbot functionality. Apple engineers have been using the bot, codenamed Apple GPT, to prototype products and answer questions based on data it has been trained on.
Sources cited by Bloomberg’s tech reporter, Mark Gurman, say multiple Apple teams are working on the chatbot project, addressing privacy concerns around generative AI. The California company did not respond to requests for comment about its rumored AI chatbot.
Apple Can Automatically Incorporate its AI Solution to its Popular Devices to Win Over Users
While Meta, Google, Microsoft (MSFT), and OpenAI have all launched commercial generative AI products recently, Apple has remained largely quiet on the technology. The report indicates Apple has no firm plan to release its AI chatbot technology publicly, aiming to make a “significant AI-related announcement” next year instead.
The rumored Apple GPT chatbot shows the iPhone maker is keen to compete in the lucrative generative AI space. However, Apple CEO Tim Cook has expressed concerns about issues surrounding AI development, including privacy and potential harm.
If released, Apple’s AI chatbot could help strengthen the value of the company’s devices and services by powering more human-like intelligent assistants and contextual features. However, Apple will likely face fierce competition from advanced generative AI bots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, and Microsoft’s capabilities in Bing AI.
Sources say Apple senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi and John Giannandrea, who leads the Siri virtual assistant team, are heading up Apple’s broader AI initiative. The company’s rumored internal chatbot suggests Apple (AAPL) aims to overcome lingering deficiencies in Siri by developing more capable AI technology.
For now, details about Apple GPT remain scarce and the company has yet to confirm rumors of its existence. Apple is known for keeping potential product plans tightly under wraps until official announcements.
Even though Apple is not a software developer per se, they are constantly on the lookout to build applications that can take user experience to the next level. The rising popularity of generative AI solutions does not seem to have flown below the radar for the Cupertino-based company as reflected by its initiative to build a proprietary AI-powered chatbot.
This application could substitute the popular virtual assistant that comes with all Apple devices – Siri – and may be designed to integrate with all of the firm’s operating systems to help users manage their money, calendars, shopping lists, e-mails, fitness routines, and multiple other elements of their day-to-day lives with the help of AI.
Apple’s control over its operating systems and the applications that are installed right out of the box on iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks give the company an edge over its competitors as they can just pre-install Ajax and virtually ‘force’ users to engage with it before they get the chance to interact with rival AI apps.
Generative AI Could Add Trillions in Value to the Global Economy
A report from McKinsey & Co. released last month emphasized that generative AI could generate between $2.6 and $4.4 trillion in value to the global economy in the form of increased productivity via the automation of organizational processes.
Generative AI is considered a highly transformative force in four specific areas of business by McKinsey. These are marketing, software engineering, research and development, and customer operations
Most industries will be benefitted from the broad adoption and implementation of AI solutions and software businesses have been embracing generative AI at a fast pace to make their products stand out from the competition.
Some recent examples include Microsoft, Alphabet (GOOG), Salesforce, and SAP, all of which are rushing to incorporate AI tools into their suite of productivity software. From drafting e-mails, creating meeting summaries, and launching marketing campaigns, to writing code and suggesting fixes, these solutions have the potential to save companies millions of dollars every year.