Apple is said to be taking a major leap into the world of artificial intelligence with reports of the tech giant buying AI services from Chinese company Baidu for its upcoming iOS 18. Baidu, known for its advanced AI capabilities, operates an LLM known as ERNIE Bot which is claimed to deliver responses that are accurate, logical, and fluent, approaching human-level interactions.
With this move, Apple is making a significant push into generative AI services as evident from the updates in this year’s iOS and macOS. According to Bloomberg, Apple is catching up with capabilities like ChatGPT and the upcoming iOS 18 is being described as ambitious and compelling. Financial Times also reported that Siri is expected to receive ChatGPT-level capabilities.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has teased about the ongoing work in the AI space and promised more details to be shared later this year. The partnership between Apple and Baidu has already shown positive results with Baidu’s shares rising over 5% following reports of the collaboration for generative AI services.
Although the reports of collaboration are yet to be confirmed, it is highly plausible considering the need for models trained in different languages and approved by regulators. Baidu’s ERNIE Bot has already been approved by Chinese regulators and is a leading player in generative AI in the country.
If the collaboration goes ahead as reported, Baidu is set to become Apple’s local generative AI model provider for iPhone 16, Mac computer operating system, and iOS 18. This partnership is expected to bring cutting-edge AI capabilities to Apple’s products and revolutionize the user experience for millions of customers worldwide. Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting development in the AI space.
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