Tim Cook confirms Apple is researching ChatGPT-style AI

AppleInsider

Apple CEO Tim Cook has told UK press that the company is "of course" working on generative AI, and that he expects to hire more Artificial intelligence staff in that country.

Apple CEO Tim Cook

Just hours after Apple put a spotlight on how it supports over half a million jobs in the UK, Tim Cook has been talking about increasing that by hiring more staff working in AI.

According to London's Evening Standard, Cook was asked by the PA news agency about AI and hiring in the UK. Cook said: "We're hiring in that area, yes, and so I do expecting [recruitment] to increase."

"[Artificial Intelligence is] all over our products today," he said, "it's behind the Fall Detection on the [Apple] Watch, it's behind Crash Detection, it's behind Afib [atrial fibrillation] detection, it's behind the ECG, it's predictive typing on iPhone"

Cook also confirmed rumors that Apple is at least researching a ChatGPT-like service.

"[Artificial Intelligence is] literally everywhere on our products," he continued, "and of course we're also researching generative AI as well, so yes we have a lot going on."

Cook visited Apple's new UK headquarters in Battersea Power Station, and then visited the nearby St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School.

"[The UK is] our third largest employee population around the world from a country point of view," said Cook. "It's also the leading developer community for Europe and it's as vibrant as ever before, it's dynamic."

"We love serving the [UK] market," he continued, " we've been here for 40 years, so it's deeply embedded in us."

Read on AppleInsider

mayfly

An Apple-engineered generative AI would mean I never again have to sift through the mountains of sponsored crap to find information I need or want. It would end Google's domination of search for me. And good riddance, too. The only problem I see is real-time updates to the data set. That's a massive undertaking requiring upfront capital expenditures for hardware well before any financial benefits would be realized. Lot of money, even for Apple.

mjtomlin

This was already confirmed at WWDC and in their latest operating systems. The new predictive text feature is uses a LLM, based on the transformer machine learning model. So yeah, we know they’ve been working on it.

chasm

mjtomlin said:

This was already confirmed at WWDC and in their latest operating systems. The new predictive text feature is uses a LLM, based on the transformer machine learning model. So yeah, we know they’ve been working on it.

Even before I upgraded to iOS 17, I noticed a distinct improvement in the predictive text quality. I’m hopeful that Apple can contribute more “intelligence” into applications of AI, rather than the current fad of just slapping this nearly-meaningless and inaccurate “AI” term onto literally everything anyone can think of.

gatorguy

mayfly said:

An Apple-engineered generative AI would mean I never again have to sift through the mountains of sponsored crap to find information I need or want. It would end Google's domination of search for me. And good riddance, too. The only problem I see is real-time updates to the data set. That's a massive undertaking requiring upfront capital expenditures for hardware well before any financial benefits would be realized. Lot of money, even for Apple.

When have you ever seen "sponsored crap" answers surfaced in Google's Generative AI? Any example would be nice. Perhaps Microsoft does that, but I've yet to see a single instance on Google after thousands of information searches

Kierkegaarden

Apple has incorporated machine learning into their products for years, but they never marketed it like some companies have with their AI endeavors.  I understand why, but maybe this will change.  Maybe they will turn Siri into an assistant you could simply text with instead speak to.  Always there to chat with, whenever you want.  I see search being greatly disrupted.

chasm

gatorguy said:

When have you ever seen "sponsored crap" answers surfaced in Google's Generative AI? Any example would be nice. Perhaps Microsoft does that, but I've yet to see a single instance on Google after thousands of information searches

I’ll provide you with some examples just as soon as I’ve closed the 10,000th “Sign in to Google” and “Switch your browser to Chrome so we can spy on you more” pop-up of the day ….

Do you get a commission on those, btw?

gatorguy

chasm said:

gatorguy said:

When have you ever seen "sponsored crap" answers surfaced in Google's Generative AI? Any example would be nice. Perhaps Microsoft does that, but I've yet to see a single instance on Google after thousands of information searches

I’ll provide you with some examples just as soon as I’ve closed the 10,000th “Sign in to Google” 

Oh, good, you have some examples. I'm anxious to see whether it's Google Generative AI or instead something from Microsoft or "other".  I never seen one from Google yet. 

mayfly

gatorguy said:

mayfly said:

An Apple-engineered generative AI would mean I never again have to sift through the mountains of sponsored crap to find information I need or want. It would end Google's domination of search for me. And good riddance, too. The only problem I see is real-time updates to the data set. That's a massive undertaking requiring upfront capital expenditures for hardware well before any financial benefits would be realized. Lot of money, even for Apple.

When have you ever seen "sponsored crap" answers surfaced in Google's Generative AI? Any example would be nice. Perhaps Microsoft does that, but I've yet to see a single instance on Google after thousands of information searches

I'd love to see one single google search that doesn't cue ads all over the screen. Reminds me of the TV screens in Idiocracy (my favorite movie).

gatorguy

mayfly said:

gatorguy said:

mayfly said:

An Apple-engineered generative AI would mean I never again have to sift through the mountains of sponsored crap to find information I need or want. It would end Google's domination of search for me. And good riddance, too. The only problem I see is real-time updates to the data set. That's a massive undertaking requiring upfront capital expenditures for hardware well before any financial benefits would be realized. Lot of money, even for Apple.

When have you ever seen "sponsored crap" answers surfaced in Google's Generative AI? Any example would be nice. Perhaps Microsoft does that, but I've yet to see a single instance on Google after thousands of information searches

I'd love to see one single google search that doesn't cue ads all over the screen. Reminds me of the TV screens in Idiocracy (my favorite movie).

Ah, so you're guessing.

Just look at Google's Generative AI search results.  Your eyeballs won't burn, it's more reliable than your assumptions, and you won't be posting things that are untrue. Sure seems better than being clueless. 

mayfly

gatorguy said:

mayfly said:

gatorguy said:

mayfly said:

An Apple-engineered generative AI would mean I never again have to sift through the mountains of sponsored crap to find information I need or want. It would end Google's domination of search for me. And good riddance, too. The only problem I see is real-time updates to the data set. That's a massive undertaking requiring upfront capital expenditures for hardware well before any financial benefits would be realized. Lot of money, even for Apple.

When have you ever seen "sponsored crap" answers surfaced in Google's Generative AI? Any example would be nice. Perhaps Microsoft does that, but I've yet to see a single instance on Google after thousands of information searches

I'd love to see one single google search that doesn't cue ads all over the screen. Reminds me of the TV screens in Idiocracy (my favorite movie).

Ah, so you're guessing.

Just look at Google's Generative AI search results.  Your eyeballs won't burn, it's more reliable than your assumptions, and you won't be posting things that are untrue. Sure seems better than being clueless. 

You and Google should get a room!

gatorguy

Some folks go out of their way to avoid the truth, so scared of what they might discover they refuse to even look for it. Research and reading ain't that hard, nor is admitting to being wrong if you discover you were. 

OctoMonkey

chasm said:

mjtomlin said:

This was already confirmed at WWDC and in their latest operating systems. The new predictive text feature is uses a LLM, based on the transformer machine learning model. So yeah, we know they’ve been working on it.

Even before I upgraded to iOS 17, I noticed a distinct improvement in the predictive text quality. I’m hopeful that Apple can contribute more “intelligence” into applications of AI, rather than the current fad of just slapping this nearly-meaningless and inaccurate “AI” term onto literally everything anyone can think of.

Sounds like an AI response...  trying to lull us into a false sense of security.

payeco

You’re really going to pull half a dozen quotes from an article and not even link to the source?

danox

mayfly said:

An Apple-engineered generative AI would mean I never again have to sift through the mountains of sponsored crap to find information I need or want. It would end Google's domination of search for me. And good riddance, too. The only problem I see is real-time updates to the data set. That's a massive undertaking requiring upfront capital expenditures for hardware well before any financial benefits would be realized. Lot of money, even for Apple.

Because Apple is essentially the only large vertical computer left from the bygone era, whatever Apples solution is it won’t be a Microsoft or Google solution, and that is reflected in the products that they make currently today that are used by the general public, that question and answer session is probably the media fishing to see if Apple is going to follow along with everyone else’s solutions in AI, in short, they want to be reassured that Apple is a part of the new AI hype, with the rest, and are not venturing outside somewhere else be it in Game Engines, GPU’s, Servers, or Modems. Although they are already executing on two of those items now as far as we know officially.

Another thing, that’s interesting is that every time Tim Cook is asked the question, Tim briefly explains just a little of what Apple is doing and because doesn’t line up with what everyone else is doing the media and the Wall Street analyst‘s eyes glaze over every time. 

Apple is on a different path and that will be demonstrated very graphically early next year with the release of the Apple Vision Pro, Apple is not in alignment with the rest, yes there are some similarities in some areas but the path is distinctly different.

NoWhere_NoOne

I think he should be more concerned about not letting Apple become Microsoft

The quality of the latest software releases have been very sub par

For example numerous Key combos no longer work - how can you upgrade you app and remove somthing

Further most upgraded software runs like a dog because no effort is put into optimisation

Sonoma is just awful - in fact I would call it Apples Windows 8 moment (upgraded my iMac - wish I hadnt - now runs like a sloth with all 4 legs cut off)

Perhaps spend less on pushing your woke agendas and more on focusing on the massive drop off in quality in UI/UX

Since the demise of Steve Jobs much of what Apple has done is at best underwhelming and at worst absolute shite

Steve was all about Substance with Style

Apple under Cook seems very much all about Style and Substance be dammed

In fact the only reason he isnt a complete failure is because Steve gifted him such a success story he would have to be Steve Balmer to screw this up

dewme

The term “AI” is the current generation’s universally applicable adjective equivalent to the previous generation’s “digital.” The Digital Age spawned crazy notions like the Digital Economy, Digital Ecosystem, and my favorite, the Digital Divide. No, the Digital Divide is not the line of demarcation between the free flowing, non quantized, infinitely divisible notions of the Analog Universe and a much different universe defined by ones and zeros.

The good news is that you don’t need tools like ChatGPT to transport yourself and your new work into the buzzwordy coolness of the new AI Age. All you need is the Search & Replace feature of your favorite human driven generative tools, aka word processing and presentation programs, and simply replace all occurrences of “Digital” with “AI.” 

Welcome to the AI Economy, the AI Ecosystem, and my brand new favorite, the AI Divide. Just make sure you’re living on the right side of the new divide. You don’t want to be left behind.

OctoMonkey

dewme said:

The term “AI” is the current generation’s universally applicable adjective equivalent to the previous generation’s “digital.” The Digital Age spawned crazy notions like the Digital Economy, Digital Ecosystem, and my favorite, the Digital Divide. No, the Digital Divide is not the line of demarcation between the free flowing, non quantized, infinitely divisible notions of the Analog Universe and a much different universe defined by ones and zeros.

The good news is that you don’t need tools like ChatGPT to transport yourself and your new work into the buzzwordy coolness of the new AI Age. All you need is the Search & Replace feature of your favorite human driven generative tools, aka word processing and presentation programs, and simply replace all occurrences of “Digital” with “AI.” 

Welcome to the AI Economy, the AI Ecosystem, and my brand new favorite, the AI Divide. Just make sure you’re living on the right side of the new divide. You don’t want to be left behind.

People are viewing "AI" today the same way people viewed "fuzzy-logic" a quarter century ago...  Gads!  Has it really been that long.  "Fuzzy-logic" was viewed by many "experts" in the industry as THE game changer for AI.  It was largely dead within 5-7 years.

ctt_zh

gatorguy said:

chasm said:

gatorguy said:

When have you ever seen "sponsored crap" answers surfaced in Google's Generative AI? Any example would be nice. Perhaps Microsoft does that, but I've yet to see a single instance on Google after thousands of information searches

I’ll provide you with some examples just as soon as I’ve closed the 10,000th “Sign in to Google” 

Oh, good, you have some examples. I'm anxious to see whether it's Google Generative AI or instead something from Microsoft or "other".  I never seen one from Google yet. 

I too am looking forward to these examples. I've used Bard many many times and have never seen a sponsored response. I'm pretty sure I've never seen a sponsored response when using Bing Chat either.... 

iooi

Apple needs to remember to skate too, where the puck will be, not where it is.

So I think an Autonomous Cognitive Entity from Apple using the https://github.com/daveshap/ACE_Framework would be great! Autonomous Cognitive Entities can do reasoning on their own and so create better results, act like real assistants would.

https://github.com/daveshap/ACE_Framework
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_BL_pu4Gtk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVP_aB5rJL8

regards,

iooi

Alex_V

gatorguy said:

mayfly said:

An Apple-engineered generative AI would mean I never again have to sift through the mountains of sponsored crap to find information I need or want. It would end Google's domination of search for me. And good riddance, too. The only problem I see is real-time updates to the data set. That's a massive undertaking requiring upfront capital expenditures for hardware well before any financial benefits would be realized. Lot of money, even for Apple.

When have you ever seen "sponsored crap" answers surfaced in Google's Generative AI? Any example would be nice. Perhaps Microsoft does that, but I've yet to see a single instance on Google after thousands of information searches

Dear Google’s Number One Fan,
That’s a red herring fallacy. Mayfly clearly referred to sponsored links on Google search. You responded with a rhetorical question about sponsored links on Google’s generative AI. You addressed a different point, not the point that Mayfly made — a deliberate red herring tactic.