A starter set of new artificial intelligence features (read: new Siri) that Apple plans to add to iOS 18will not rely on cloud servers at all, reports Mark Gurman in the latest Power On digest for Bloomberg.
iOS 18: betting on local AI
Apple announces iOS 18 along with other new OS versions at the upcoming presentation WWDC24 will take place on June 10. An important part of this big presentation will be the first artificial intelligence functions, which, according to Mark Gurman, will work locally on the device without the involvement of remote servers. This means that the «component of cloud data processing has been cut out of the large language model that will power Apple’s AI services. Safer local processing of sensitive personal information should be one of the key differences of Apple’s AI, which constantly emphasizes privacy and security on the iPhone and other products.
According to preliminary data, iOS 18 will include new generative AI features for the Spotlight search tool on iPhone. Also, Siri, Safari, Shortcuts, Apple Music, Messages, Health, Numbers, Pages, Keynote, and other apps will be upgraded with new AI features. Earlier, Gurman reported that Siri would become smarter and learn to answer more complex questions, and Messages would have sentence completion. At the moment, all indications are that Apple is not going to directly respond to ChatGPT in iOS 18, but we can’t completely rule out the appearance of a built-in chatbot based on Gemini or some other platform.
Apple will likely also offer a number of cloud-based AI features that will work on Google Gemini or another third-party vendor’s model. Among Apple’s potential partners in the field of generative AI are Google, OpenAI, and even China’s Baidu. According to preliminary reports, Apple has been negotiating with all of the above companies. In addition, well-known analysts of Apple’s supply chain, such as Ming-Chi Kuo and Jeff Pu, reported that the iPhone developer has purchased large batches of specialized AI servers. Thus, in the future, Apple may well join the race of generative artificial intelligence.