Apple has reportedly been working on several artificial intelligence features for the upcoming iOS 18 update. Apart from investing heavily in all kinds of AI technologies, the Cupertino tech giant was reported to be in talks with some major players like Google, Baidu and OpenAI to build its AI engine into upcoming iPhones. Now, the latest newsletter by Mark Gurman suggests that Apple is developing its own Large Language Model (LLM) to bring AI capabilities to iPhones. This means that the AI functions on an iPhone would be powered by Apple's own LLM running on the device to prioritize privacy and speed.
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Mark Gurman said that "All indications" apparently indicate that it will be entirely on the device. Therefore, the AI functions will run on the device and not cloud services like the existing AI services. That means the technology is tuned to the Apple processors inside its devices. As for on-device models, they offer faster responses than sending requests through a cloud service. Additionally, they offer the advantage of working offline in areas with limited or no connectivity. Image Courtesy: Mohit Singh/Beebom
Despite some advantages, we cannot ignore the fact that Apple's on-device AI tools may be less capable or less powerful at performing complex tasks than their direct cloud-based rivals. However, Gurman suggested that Apple could "fill in the gaps" by leveraging technology from Google and other existing AI service providers.
Last month there were reports that Apple is in discussions with Google about building a Gemini Artificial Intelligence engine into an iPhone.
