Apple to Bring New Generation of Artificial Intelligence to Siri

In response to the recent AI trend in the technology industry, Apple is preparing to enter the field of generative artificial intelligence, not just limited to machine learning. This tech giant, which has been relatively conservative in the AI boom, is now ready to develop generative AI capabilities across its entire range of devices, including iOS, Siri, and other applications.

Apple CEO Tim Cook now asserts that the company has years of experience in generative AI technology. However, it is clear that Apple was caught off guard by the sudden AI boom in the industry and has been striving to catch up since the end of last year. There is a sense of nervousness and anxiety within the company about lagging behind in the field of AI.

With other tech giants, including Google and Microsoft, launching generative AI versions of their search engines that can produce human-like responses to user queries.

Microsoft has also updated its Windows applications with Copilot, and Amazon has enhanced Alexa with AI capabilities. Meanwhile, the only notable AI release from Apple during this period was the improved autocorrect system in iOS 17.

Previously reported, Apple has developed its own large-scale language model called Ajax and introduced an internal chatbot named "Apple GPT" for testing. The key challenge now is to evaluate whether this technology can compete with existing products and how to effectively integrate it into Apple's products.

The generative AI initiative at Apple is led by Senior Vice Presidents John Giannandrea and Craig Federighi, who are referred to as the "executive sponsors" of the project. Eddy Cue, the head of Apple's services division, is also involved, and the three of them plan to invest approximately $1 billion annually in this project.

Giannandrea's team is responsible for developing underlying technologies for the new AI system. They are also making significant improvements to Siri, with a possible improved version to be released earlier next year. Federighi's software engineering team is integrating AI into the next version of iOS, with a focus on leveraging large-scale language models to enhance the capabilities of Siri and the Messages app.

Apple's software engineering team is researching the integration of generative AI into the development tool Xcode, which will help app developers write applications more efficiently. In addition, Cue's team is working to add AI capabilities to as many Apple applications as possible, including Apple Music and productivity apps.

An ongoing debate within Apple is about the deployment of generative AI, including on-device, cloud-based, or hybrid approaches. On-device settings prioritize speed and privacy, while cloud-based approaches enable more advanced operations. Choosing between these deployment methods is crucial for Apple to maintain competitiveness in the rapidly evolving field of generative AI.