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Apple announced on Monday that it has partnered with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into its devices and unveiled a brand new “Apple Intelligence” system, with CEO Tim Cook calling it the iPhone maker's “next big step.”
Cook and his team unveiled the upgrades to the software ecosystem coming this yr at the corporate's annual developer conference on Monday. The goal is to harness the facility of AI to deliver a better Siri voice assistant and more personalized features on devices to extend productivity and leverage more advanced computer intelligence.
This yr's Worldwide Developers Conference was particularly closely watched as investors waited to see how Cook will position Apple to make the most of generative AI amid concerns the corporate is falling behind its Big Tech rivals.
Silicon Valley giants like Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta are racing to develop recent products based on artificial intelligence, while competing with—or in some cases partnering with—startups focused on the technology, resembling OpenAI. Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI.
The OpenAI partnership will feed into Apple's own generative AI capabilities, which the corporate calls “Apple Intelligence.” Cook described it as a “recent personal intelligence system” based on Apple's own generative AI models and tailored to the user.
Apple stressed that its approach to AI is targeted on protecting user privacy. The models would run locally on devices and on Apple's cloud servers and could be powered by the corporate's chips. The approach – training AI functions using a user's personal data without it leaving the device – is “AI that only Apple can deliver,” Cook said.
“It knows your personal information without collecting it,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice chairman of software engineering.
Apple's voice assistant Siri is being redesigned with the corporate's generative AI models. Apple guarantees a more natural interactive experience with higher language understanding.
Siri will have the option to ask ChatGPT questions, leveraging the facility of OpenAI's models — though it can ask the user for permission before communicating. Apple users don't need a subscription to access the feature, allowing for “seamless integration” while ensuring “you’ve gotten control over when ChatGPT is used,” Federighi said.
Siri may also have the option to perform more detailed actions on Apple's native apps, and recent developer tools will allow third-party developers to make the most of these features.
Apple's leadership team unveiled additional generative AI features that will probably be available later this yr on iOS 18, the most recent version of the iPhone operating system, in addition to on the iPad and Mac, including image generation and custom emojis.
“Apple Intelligence should reassure nervous investors that Apple is keeping pace with its competitors,” said Leo Gebbie, an analyst at CCS Insight. “The partnership with ChatGPT is a crucial development that strengthens Apple's AI offering, and recent features like a significantly improved Siri will probably be welcome to users.”
But Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk immediately raised the alarm concerning the partnership, warning that he would ban Apple devices in his corporations “if Apple integrates OpenAI on the (operating system) level,” which he said could be “an unacceptable security breach.”
Musk has a feuding past with OpenAI chief Sam Altman. He was considered one of OpenAI's founders before leaving the corporate in 2018. He has sued OpenAI, accusing it of abandoning its original mission of helping humanity. Musk, who has his own AI startup xAI, can be an occasional critic of Apple, which pulled ad funding from X late last yr after Musk supported an anti-Semitic post.
This yr's conference was widely expected to give attention to AI, as Apple looks to capitalize on considered one of the most popular technology trends to excite investors and consumers. However, the market response was muted, with the corporate's shares losing 1.9 percent on the day.
Attendees were led into Apple Park, bathed within the morning sun, by cheering and applauding Apple employees in pink T-shirts. The multi-story glass doors of the corporate's massive cafeteria were opened to create seating for tons of of guests on the event, which took place on an out of doors stage. The presentation began with a slickly produced video of Federighi and a team of Apple employees jumping out of a plane in white jumpsuits emblazoned with the Apple logo.
Altman was spotted at Apple's event but was not onstage with Cook to announce the partnership. OpenAI has change into considered one of the dominant forces in generative AI with its product ChatGPT, driving its valuation to over $80 billion. Earlier on Monday, the corporate announced it had hired former Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar as chief financial officer and Kevin Weil — who previously worked at Facebook, Instagram and Twitter — as chief product officer.
Apple also announced that the Vision Pro headset, which was released within the US in February, will now be available internationally. Pre-orders might be made later this month in China, Japan, Singapore, the UK, France, Germany, Canada and Australia.
