By Tim Hardwick
Apple is in talks with Google to integrate its Gemini artificial intelligence engine into the iPhone as part of iOS 18, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In the report, citing people familiar with the situation, Gurman claims that the two companies are in “active negotiations” to allow Apple to license generative models of Google's big language to support some of the new features coming in iOS 18.
“Both sides have not yet decided on the terms or branding of the AI agreement, nor have they finalized how it will be implemented,” according to sources in the report.
With the release of iOS 18 later this year, Apple is rumored to bring new artificial intelligence capabilities to its iPhone operating system. However, according to Gurman, Apple is focusing on features that run on the device and don't require an Internet connection.
To enable additional cloud-based generative AI capabilities, such as the ability to create images and write essays based on individual queries, Apple is looking for a partner that already has the necessary large-scale hardware infrastructure and computing capabilities. on site.
According to Gurman's previous report, Apple is internally testing an “Apple GPT” competitor that could compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT. The company is also developing an “Ajax” framework for large language models and reportedly spends millions of dollars a day on conversational AI research because training language models requires a lot of hardware.
However, training language models requires a lot of hardware
However, the technology is still not as mature as the tools of Google and other competitors, so a partnership looks like a better option, according to the latest report.
If talks go nowhere, Apple may be looking for another generative AI. provider such as OpenAI, or reach out to multiple partners. But if talks lead to an agreement, it could offset any losses resulting from regulatory pressure facing the two companies' existing search partnerships.
Google has been paying Apple billions of dollars over several years to keep its search engine the default option in the Safari browser on Apple devices. However, the existing deal is under regulatory scrutiny from the US Department of Justice and the European Commission over concerns that it helps Google maintain a monopoly on search.
Both The Information and analyst Jeff Pu claim that Apple will have some kind of generative AI feature available on iPhones and iPads around the end of 2024, when iOS 18 releases. However, in August, an Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said there is “no sign” of generative AI technology arriving in 2024 and said Apple's work on generative AI is “significantly behind the competition.”
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