Apple isn’t the first name you think of when you think of AI, but the company is reportedly still working on various AI models that will theoretically compete with ChatGPT and Gemini.
A report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says that models with three to 150 billion parameters are being tested and could be employed on the iPhone in the future. The large 150 billion parameter model relies on the cloud and will be much more powerful than Apple’s current on-device intelligence models, which have around three billion parameters.
The report claims that Apple’s testing determined that the AI is similar in power to the recent releases from ChatGPT. However, the company is still worried about its tendency to hallucinate — a problem all AI companies should be worrying about. The report states Apple executives have “philosophical differences” in their feelings toward AI features, which has been holding some back.
However, even as these extremely large models improve, pundits don’t expect to see them at WWDC next week. Instead, it’s rumoured that other third-party AI models will be worked into Siri. Last year, the company added ChatGPT support to the voice assistant. This year, we’re expecting to see support for Google Gemini and Perplixity.
It remains to be seen what else Apple will show off to make an AI impact at WWDC. Even if the company has nothing to show the industry at large, Wall Street seems to expect all major tech companies to make major strides in AI tech. Google made major moves at I/O earlier this summer, and OpenAI just signed a deal with former Apple design legend Jony Ive to make hardware AI products.
The world is still waiting for the AI-upgraded Siri shown off at WWDC in 2024, so there is a precedent that it could once again be the star of the show. This feature was set up to be the highlight of the first generation of Apple Intelligence, but it was delayed, so we’ve been stuck with a lacklustre suite of more subtle tools instead. It’s expected that this will finally come out with the next major iOS, but perhaps it will come sooner since it was originally promised as an iOS 18 feature.
The existing ChatGPT functionality in Siri can be frustrating since traditional Siri occasionally fields questions with less helpful replies, making it sometimes unclear how to get answers from AI products or Siri. Ideally, Apple will smooth this out in the upcoming OS updates.
A previous report stated that Apple has a secret group of employees in Zurich working on a new AI-powered Siri that will replace the current hybrid version. It remains to be seen how far away this innovation is or if it will ever see the light of day. If it does, it would likely eliminate the need for ChatGPT and Gemini plugins for Siri.
Gurman says smaller AI features expected at WWDC 25 include a revamped Translate app with AirPods integrations, a new battery management mode, and revamped features in Photos and Safari will now be “AI-powered.”
Apple is also gearing up to release a huge design overhaul to all of its software, so there is a chance that this WWDC is very light on AI announcements and instead focuses on design and more standard feature updates to the various Apple software platforms.
Source: Bloomberg
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