- Apple’s stock exploded briefly Wednesday after a report said the company is developing its own AI large-scale language model internally.
- Apple has an internal foundation for AI called Ajax and a small group of engineers is building a chatbot that some are calling “Apple GPT,” according to the report.
- In the past year, technologists and investors have been fascinated by large-scale language models, an AI technology that can make text or code look like a human wrote it.
Apple CEO Tim Cook arrives at Sun Valley Lodge for the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, July 11, 2023.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images
Apple’s stock took off briefly on Wednesday after a report said the company is developing its own artificial intelligence large-scale language model internally. It was up about 1% for the day in midday trading.
The move signals that Apple is seriously developing AI technology and considering integrating it into future products. The company rarely uses the term “artificial intelligence,” instead opting for the more academic “machine learning.”
In the past year, technologists and investors have been fascinated by large-scale language models, an AI technology that can make text or code look like a human wrote it.
Apple has an internal foundation for AI called Ajax and a small group of engineers is building a chatbot that some are calling “Apple GPT,” according to the report. Access to the chatbot is limited within Apple. Some Apple employees believe the company is aiming for a major AI announcement next year, according to the report.
Besides LLMs, Apple uses a lot of machine learning in its products, from Siri speech recognition to the Photos app’s ability to detect faces and pets.
To some degree, Apple was late to jump on the LLM trend. Microsoft integrates ChatGPT with OpenAI in its software, Google integrates Bard with its search engine, Amazon will offer LLMs through AWS and Meta open-sourced a large LLM project this week.
On Tuesday, Qualcomm, which makes processors for phones that compete with Apple’s iPhone, said it would work with Meta so that its LLMs would work directly on Android devices, instead of on distant cloud servers.
Apple representatives did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.