Generative AI: Apple to Launch Smarter Siri Next Year with Integrated Apps!

Apple Accelerates Its AI Initiatives

Apple's head of artificial intelligence, John Giannandrea, is responding to a sudden surge in AI interest, recognizing the urgent need to catch up with competitors. The company plans to launch a more advanced version of Siri as early as next year and aims to integrate AI technologies into as many products as possible, particularly in Apple Music and its productivity software.

According to Mark Gurman, a senior journalist at Bloomberg, there is a pressing sense of urgency within Apple regarding generative AI. Although iOS 17 introduced an improved autocorrect system, CEO Tim Cook noted that Apple has been concentrating on generative AI for years. However, executives feel blindsided by the rapid developments in the industry, leading to anxiety among team members who believe Apple has made significant missteps in this area.

In July, Apple established its own large language model framework called Ajax and is developing a chatbot service internally dubbed "Apple GPT." The crucial factor is whether this technology can compete with others in the market and how effectively it can be integrated into their products. Giannandrea is collaborating with Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, on this initiative. Together, they are referred to by their team as the "champions of generative AI," with plans to invest approximately $1 billion annually in these efforts.

Giannandrea oversees the development of the underlying technology for the new AI systems, and his team is focused on enhancing Siri's capabilities, with a smarter version expected to debut early next year. However, there are concerns about the pace of this technology’s rollout, with indications that Apple's AI features might take longer to become widespread. Meanwhile, Federighi's software engineering team is working on integrating AI into the next iOS, planning to run new functionalities on the language model to enhance Siri and messaging applications.

Additionally, Apple's software engineering team is exploring the integration of generative AI into development tools like Xcode to help app developers write new code more efficiently, aligning with services like Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot.

Cook's team is also considering the potential for automatically generated playlists in Apple Music, similar to a service previously launched in collaboration with OpenAI by Spotify. Productivity applications like Pages and Keynote will also receive AI enhancements to assist users in creating and presenting more effectively, akin to features introduced by Microsoft in Word and PowerPoint.

Currently, Apple is deliberating on the best approach to deploying generative AI—whether on-device, cloud-based, or a combination of both. On-device deployment could provide faster response times and better privacy, while cloud deployment may support more complex functions. Given these considerations, Apple is likely to implement a hybrid strategy: processing basic functions on-device while leveraging the cloud for more advanced tasks.

In recent interviews, Cook noted his own use of ChatGPT, highlighting the importance of developing and deploying new tools effectively. Apple's challenge now is to quickly and efficiently incorporate these AI technologies into its offerings.