Apple CEO Tim Cook calls AI a fundamental technology
Artificial intelligence is the industry buzzword these days, and while Apple is remaining tight-lipped on the subject, CEO Tim Cook promises it's an integral part of its products.
AI is already a big part of Apple
Apple held its quarterly earnings call on Thursday evening where journalists get a chance to ask CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri questions about the earnings and company. While many result in negligible replies, some answers provide insight into where things may be going.
A few questions directed the call towards AI and Apple's investments in it. Apple's leadership was clear on the company's stance on AI -- it wasn't just being developed, it was already part of everything.
"If you kind of zoom out and look at what we've done on AI and machine learning and how we've used it, we view AI and machine learning as fundamental technologies and they're integral to virtually every product that we ship," Cook replied to a question about generative AI. "And so just recently, when we shipped iOS 17, it had features like personal voice and live voicemail. AI is at the heart of these features."
Later in the call, Cook was asked about a roughly $8 billion increase in in R&D spend and where that money was going. Tim's response was simple, among other things, it's AI, silicon, and products like Apple Vision Pro.
These comments are in line with what Cook and the company have said about AI in the past. Plenty of features in iOS already rely on machine learning and even AI, like the new transformer language model for autocorrect.
Some assume that Apple's AI efforts will lead to a more powerful Siri. Though it isn't clear if or when such a project will surface.
Read on AppleInsider
AI is already a big part of Apple
Apple held its quarterly earnings call on Thursday evening where journalists get a chance to ask CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri questions about the earnings and company. While many result in negligible replies, some answers provide insight into where things may be going.
A few questions directed the call towards AI and Apple's investments in it. Apple's leadership was clear on the company's stance on AI -- it wasn't just being developed, it was already part of everything.
"If you kind of zoom out and look at what we've done on AI and machine learning and how we've used it, we view AI and machine learning as fundamental technologies and they're integral to virtually every product that we ship," Cook replied to a question about generative AI. "And so just recently, when we shipped iOS 17, it had features like personal voice and live voicemail. AI is at the heart of these features."
Later in the call, Cook was asked about a roughly $8 billion increase in in R&D spend and where that money was going. Tim's response was simple, among other things, it's AI, silicon, and products like Apple Vision Pro.
These comments are in line with what Cook and the company have said about AI in the past. Plenty of features in iOS already rely on machine learning and even AI, like the new transformer language model for autocorrect.
Some assume that Apple's AI efforts will lead to a more powerful Siri. Though it isn't clear if or when such a project will surface.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
On device, AI is more complicated because it actually requires a SOC chip combined with OS level software, and conversely requires a hell of a lot more time to design, engineer, and develop, designing something that works on a super computer back home at Google/Microsoft HQ does not which is why Google resorted to that method to cover for the shortcomings of the Tensor SOC in the Pixel 8 Pro which is five years behind Apple.
Everyone is moving in the same direction and although there are good reasons for keeping some things on-device (privacy/latency) , there are also good reasons to shift things into the edge/cloud.
Sensor data processing depends on many factors. Sometimes it will be preferable to have it processed on device or spread over multiple devices (and that might not even be a phone). Other times it will be edge or cloud or a combination of both. That will depend on the task at hand.
Let's not forget either that in certain use cases for 5G, the network itself is the sensor.
I've always had the impression that Apple's on device AI was behind the competition in its scope simply because a lot of what has appeared at keynotes has been posterior to already implemented instances on other devices.
Apple otoh, tends to take a look at the bigger picture: human rights, what is the effect of corporations (and often associated governments) having all of this information about people? Is it being used to manipulate human behaviour, and if so, where is that manipulation for profit/power taking us?
I often look back on the past (before my time even) where the people creating new technology were also studying philosophy, history, thinking about human nature and human rights, and considering the direction we're going based on a fundamental understanding of, and compassion for, humanity. I benefitted from the thinking of this generation growing up, and hope that my generation doesn't take us backwards by forgetting those fundamentals.