Apple is reportedly acquiring specialists from Google with the aim of expanding its own group of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning specialists.
In a “hiring spree” over the past year, Apple reportedly recruited “dozens” of these specialists away from Google, according to a Financial Times (FT) report from April 30. According to the report, since 2018, Apple has hired about 36 Google AI experts.
Apple has established a “secretive” laboratory in the area that it calls “Vision Lab,” in addition to attempting to assemble elite teams of AI specialists through the acquisition of two local AI start-ups in Zurich, Switzerland.
Although locals have complained that the laboratory is unnoticeable and that some were unaware Apple was located in the neighborhood, the Financial Times story claims that Apple’s Zurich staff has played a significant role in the company’s research into cutting-edge AI technologies that underpin competitor services like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
This is happening as Apple starts to pursue AI development more aggressively. While Google, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and OpenAI, among other Big Tech rivals, have been racing to invest in and develop potent large language models (LLMs), Apple has been largely quiet over the past year.
Since the beginning of the year, Apple’s share price has decreased. On the other hand, Microsoft and Google’s Q2 financial reports showed notable growth in sales and profit, which they attributed to their investments and progress in artificial intelligence technologies.
On April 24, however, Apple made available a set of four small language models on the Hugging Face library called Open-source Efficient Language Models (OpenELM). The models are meant to be used for text-related tasks, such drafting emails.
Industry insiders claim that Apple will prioritize generative AI integration into its mobile devices. This means that instead of relying on data centers and the corresponding cloud services to power them, AI chatbots and applications might operate on the technology that is already there on the iPhone.
In February 2024, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that later in the year, generative AI software features would be integrated to iOS and other Apple platforms.
On April 27, it was revealed that Apple and OpenAI are in-depth discussions regarding generative AI technology integration into iOS.Apple. There were also mentions of related conversations with Google.
These advancements imply Apple’s shift in concentration towards artificial intelligence, even though they have not been verified.
April 2024, Cryptoniteuae
