Apple has been making significant strides in the field of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), evident in its increasing involvement in academic and technical papers. Recent publications co-authored by Apple researchers showcase innovations such as a system capable of generating animated 3D avatars from short videos and Keyframer, a tool designed to animate still images.Apple has been actively contributing to the open-source community by releasing a plethora of models and tools geared towards the development of GenAI-powered software. Notably, Ferret, a chatbot released in October, utilizes an existing open-source model named Vicuna, while MGIE, launched earlier this year, offers a unique capability to modify images based on natural language commands.
According to Bloomberg's report in October, Apple has been ramping up its investment in GenAI research, allocating a staggering $1 billion annually towards catching up in this domain. Among its endeavors is the development of Ajax, a proprietary large language model, and an in-house chatbot dubbed Apple GPT. Additionally, there are rumors circulating about potential hardware innovations, with speculations suggesting a significant upgrade to the Neural Engine in the upcoming iPhone 16 models. The Neural Engine is Apple's custom on-device chip designed to accelerate AI processing.
Apple's aggressive push into GenAI research and development signifies the company's commitment to staying at the forefront of technological innovation. By investing heavily in both software and hardware advancements, Apple aims to solidify its position in the ever-evolving landscape of artificial intelligence and machine learning. As the GenAI ecosystem continues to expand, Apple's contributions are poised to shape the future of AI-driven applications and services