As Apple enters the AI race, it’s also in search of help from partners.
Throughout the announcement of Apple Intelligence earlier this month, Apple said it could be partnering with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT into the revamped version of Siri. Now, the Wall Street Journal reports that Apple and Facebook’s parent company Meta are in talks around an identical deal.
These talks have reportedly not been finalized and will still fall through. Meta declined to comment; Apple didn’t immediately respond.
As Sarah Perez noted, Apple’s approach to AI currently sounds a bit boring and practical — relatively than treating this as a chance for wholesale reinvention or disruption, it’s starting out by adding AI-powered features (like writing suggestions and custom emojis) to its existing products. But emphasizing practicality over flashiness is likely to be the important thing to AI adoption. Then, Apple can leverage partnerships to transcend the capabilities of its own AI models.
So a cope with Meta could make Apple less reliant on a single partner, while also providing validation for Meta’s generative AI tech. The Journal reports that Apple’s isn’t offering to pay for these partnerships; as a substitute, Apple provides distribution to AI partners who can then sell premium subscriptions.
And while Elon Musk, who co-founded OpenAI but is now competing with it through his recent startup xAI, seemed so concerned concerning the possibility that ChatGPT could be deeply integrated with Apple’s operating systems that he threatened to ban Apple devices from his firms, Apple has said it’ll ask for users’ permission before sharing any questions and data with ChatGPT. Presumably, any integration with Meta would work similarly.
In one other recent development, Apple has also said that while Apple Intelligence is about to roll out in the most recent versions of its operating systems (including iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia) later this yr, it plans to hold the technology back from the European Union, on account of the EU’s Digital Markets Act (which is imagined to encourage competition in digital markets). It also said it’ll hold back iPhone Mirroring and SharePlay Screen Sharing.
“We’re concerned that the interoperability requirements of the DMA could force us to compromise the integrity of our products in ways in which risk user privacy and data security,” the corporate said in an announcement.
