Apple is reportedly in discussions with Google to bring the capabilities of Gemini, its generative artificial intelligence (AI)-based large language models, to the iPhone. If this deal comes to fruition, iOS 18 could arrive with AI features backed by Gemini. The company also held talks with ChatGPT maker OpenAI for the same, as per the report. It is said that the Cupertino-based tech giant is resorting to third-party technology providers as its own AI model development is not going as fast as the company had hoped for.
Citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, a report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said that Apple “is in talks to build Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence engine into the iPhone.” As per the report, the deal, if it reaches an agreement, will see Apple licence Gemini’s family of AI models to build new capabilities and features for its iPhone. However, it also highlighted that the AI features will be on-device and not cloud-based like the Gemini app for Android.
This would mean while the base model will be provided by Google, Apple will build on top of it to focus it on a certain task and add that limited functionality with iOS. Notably, it is said that the AI features could be announced during the unveiling of iOS 18 at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024 in June. However, the discussions appear to be in the early stages as Apple has reportedly held similar talks with OpenAI as well.
It is being said that the reason Apple is seeking AI technologies from a third party is because its technology, in its current state, is quite inferior. Notably, a group of researchers affiliated with the company published a pre-print version of a paper that highlighted an AI model called MM1, which was capable of multimodal capabilities. But as a downside, the authors also stated that the foundation model was still in the pre-training phase as it was fine-tuning the architecture.
Gurman previously hinted that the AI features coming to the iPhone could be added to enhance several functionalities. Siri was touted to get AI features to improve its natural language processing as well as perform more complex tasks. Apple Music could also get an AI that creates personalised playlists for users.
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