Apple is quietly investing $1 billion a year in AI.

Although Apple may not make headlines like Google and Microsoft when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI) research tools or applications, it is not without efforts in AI.

In July of this year, there were reports that Apple was developing its own generative AI tool. Last year, it created the Ajax framework for developing large language models and has already developed an Apple GPT similar to ChatGPT using Ajax.

According to the media reports at the time, Apple was researching and improving the underlying models, with no plans for consumer release yet. The executives have not yet determined how to release the AI tools. Some commentators believe that the key for Apple is to determine whether its AI technology is sufficient to compete in the tech industry and how to truly apply AI technology to its own products.

Recently, it was reported that John Giannandrea, Apple's Senior Vice President of AI and Software Engineering, and Craig Federighi are leading the AI efforts mentioned above. They are referred to as the "initiators" of generative AI development within Apple. Eddy Cue, Apple's Senior Vice President in charge of services, is also involved. Currently, these three Apple executives plan to invest $1 billion annually in the development of AI products.

Last weekend, an article from Wall Street CN mentioned that Jeff Pu, an analyst at Haitong International Securities, believes that Apple plans to integrate generative AI technology into iPhones and iPads as early as the end of 2024. Pu's supply chain investigation shows that Apple will set up hundreds of AI servers in the next two years to achieve this goal.

Pu believes that Apple will provide a combination of cloud AI and "edge AI." Apple is also deciding how to legally and compliantly use customer personal data, so it will take some time before Apple GPT can be seen. If the plan progresses as scheduled, Apple's AI may be implemented by the end of 2024, most likely starting with the release of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 with generative AI capabilities.

The article mentions that Apple has been paying attention to generative AI much earlier than the outside world imagines. Four years ago, Apple's AI director, John Giannandrea, authorized the formation of a team to develop conversational AI, namely large language models, demonstrating Apple's emphasis on this field.

After the popularity of ChatGPT last year, Apple's AI team became "anxious" and increased research funding significantly, burning millions of dollars every day. They also poached many engineers from Google to accelerate the development of LLM. Apple employees unanimously believe that their Apple GPT large model capabilities have surpassed GPT-3.5.