Apple is testing an AI chatbot similar to ChatGPT
Apple is developing artificial intelligence tools to challenge Open AI, Google and others, according to a new report from Mark Gurman of Bloomberg. The tech giant has created a chatbot that some engineers internally refer to as “Apple GPT”. Apple has yet to define a strategy for consumer releases of the technology, but is reportedly aiming to make a significant AI-related announcement next year.
The report says Apple has built its own framework, codenamed “Ajax,” to create large language models, which are AI-based systems that support offerings like ChatGPT Open AI and Google’s Bard. Ajax runs on Google Cloud and is built with Google JAX, the search giant’s machine learning framework, according to Bloomberg. Ajax was created last year to unify machine learning development. Apple now leverages Ajax to create large language models and serves as the basis for its built-in ChatGPT style tools.
Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The internal rollout of the chatbot was temporarily halted due to security concerns about generative AI, but has since become available to more Apple employees. Although more and more employees are getting access to chatbots, special approval is required to access them. Bloomberg reports that any output from the chatbot cannot be used to develop subscriber-bound features.
Apple employees use chatbots to help with product prototyping. The chatbot can be used to summarize text and answer questions based on the data it has trained.
The enterprise chatbot is similar to Bard, ChatGPT, and Bing AI, in that it does not feature any additional features that separate it from what is currently available commercially.
The report says Apple is focused on addressing potential privacy issues related to artificial intelligence. Apple CEO Tim Cook says that while the tech giant will add AI to more of its offerings, it will happen do it on a “prudent basis”.
As companies like Google, Microsoft, and Meta move quickly to release generative AI products to the public, Apple has remained quiet on the AI front. While the tech giant has been rolling out AI features across its products for years, now it wants to meet consumer demand for generative AI tools that can help with tasks like composing essays and drawings.
This story develops…
