The Wall Street Journal recently released a specialized report focusing on why Apple is lagging behind other tech companies in AI products, despite introducing Siri before its competitors. The report highlights the crucial issue of Apple’s secretive working style impacting AI development, making error-free products a challenge in today’s AI landscape. This secrecy also makes product improvement difficult and hinders user privacy protection. In the past few years, Apple’s ability to enhance AI products has been affected, with a spotlight on John Giannandrea, the former head of AI at Google now overseeing AI and Machine Learning at Apple. His transition has posed challenges due to differing organizational cultures.
A significant contrast lies in scheduling priorities, as Apple is rigid with clear timelines, while the AI team, primarily from Google, believes in “if it’s not done on time, it’s not done.” Conflict between the AI and software development team led by Craig Federighi further complicates matters. For instance, the software team chooses to develop AI within the operating system for image and video recognition without AI team involvement, leading to inadequate processing resources internally. Additionally, Apple’s cloud resources for AI work are insufficient, requiring Google’s cloud services for processing.
The focus on AI within iOS has intensified since late 2022 when Federighi experimented with GitHub Copilot during the Christmas break, revealing more potential in Generative AI. This prompted the formation of a team dedicated to developing Generative AI within Apple, in collaboration with Giannandrea’s AI team, reducing previous conflicts.
TLDR: The Wall Street Journal report sheds light on Apple’s struggle in AI development, stemming from its secretive working culture, conflicts between AI and software teams, and the recent push towards Generative AI within the company.
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