Some Apple employees think the company is at least two years behind its competitors in artificial intelligence (AI) development. This information, published in the latest issue of Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter, also reveals some important details about Apple’s AI strategy and internal workings.
Apple took its first big step in the field of artificial intelligence by introducing the “Apple Intelligence” feature set at the WWDC24 event held in June. These features include innovations such as artificial intelligence-supported notification summaries, smart prioritization for important notifications, a new Siri developed with personal context, Image Playground and Genmoji.
However, another notable aspect of Apple’s AI strategy is that the company is not driving its developments in this area entirely on its own. The company prioritizes Apple Intelligence’s use of models that can largely run on devices. This leads to high hardware requirements on devices to run AI applications; It requires at least an A17 or M1 chipset and 8 GB of memory. However, the operation of these models on the device naturally limits the amount of data processed.
To overcome these limitations, Apple announced a collaboration with OpenAI. Thanks to this partnership, ChatGPT will be available on iOS, iPadOS and macOS platforms. Users do not necessarily have to use this integration, but it will be a preferred option to access broader information.
OpenAI develops the world’s most advanced AI models, and Apple announced that it will integrate the GPT-4o model into its systems. This integration will be used in various areas, especially Siri and writing tools. While the addition of ChatGPT aims to close Apple’s existing knowledge gap, Apple’s internal reports reveal how large this gap is compared to Siri.
According to Gurman, Apple’s internal research shows that ChatGPT is approximately 25% more accurate than Siri and can answer 30 percent more questions. It is also stated that some company employees think that Apple’s productive artificial intelligence technology is behind industry leaders and is at least two years behind.
Apple can close the gap as it has in the past
In the past, Apple has successfully managed to close this gap even when it has fallen behind in areas such as Apple Maps. Gurman said that Apple will come to the fore in this field sooner or later; It predicts that it will do this either through its own developments, by hiring talented people from outside, or by acquiring relevant companies.
Additionally, it is stated that by 2026, Apple Intelligence will work on all devices with a screen. In line with expectations, the iPhone SE is expected to get the A18 chipset in March, and the entry-level iPad is expected to receive the update later in 2025.
One of Apple’s biggest advantages is that it has high-capacity devices that can run AI models. This means that as the company develops its artificial intelligence applications, users can quickly benefit from these innovations. It is followed with curiosity how Apple will develop in the future.