Apple has resumed conversations with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, to power some AI features coming to iOS 18, according to a new report in Bloomberg. Apple is also building its own large language models to power some features in iOS 18, but its discussions with OpenAI are centered around a “chatbot/search component,” according to Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman.
Apple is also reportedly in talks with Google to license Gemini, Google’s own AI-powered chatbot, for iOS 18. Bloomberg reports that these discussions are still ongoing and things could still go one way or another. the other because Apple has not made a final decision on which technology the company should use. It’s conceivable, Gurman says, that Apple will eventually license AI technology from both companies, or neither.
So far, Apple has been notably tight-lipped about its AI efforts, even as the rest of Silicon Valley has embarked on an AI arms race. But he’s left enough clues to indicate he’s up to something. When the company announced its results in February, CEO Tim Cook said that Apple continued to work and invest in artificial intelligence and that he was “excited to share details of our ongoing work in this area more late this year.” He claimed that the all-new MacBook Air M3 launched last month was the “world’s best consumer laptop for AI” and that it would begin launching more AI-centric laptops and desktops. late this year. And earlier this week, Apple also released a handful of large open source language models designed to run locally on devices rather than in the cloud.
It’s still unclear what Apple’s AI features will look like on iPhones and other devices. Generative AI is still notoriously unreliable and prone to inventing answers. Recent AI-based gadgets, like the Humane Ai Pin, have received disastrous reviews, while others, like the Rabbit R1, are yet to prove themselves.
We’ll find out more at WWDC on June 10.
