Apple and Meta Reportedly Discussed AI Partnership for iOS 18

[oldwatery]

I hate the idea of AI. It is not artificial intelligence at all. It is still programmed by someone With all their inherent biases and prejudices. Meanwhile Apple is morphing into a company I truly do not recognize.

Many people here are getting exposed to too many fake news or conspiracy theories.
Chill, don’t panic over something you don’t fully yet understand.

i suggest you watch Coded Bias. You might understand some people’s dislike and fear of this technology. It is beyond scary.

 

[TechnoMonk]

Because they've largely been on cruise control and have stopped really pushing on innovation

The iPhone drives the whole ship (revenue wise) and every year it's "tweak the camera and slightly change the shape or add a button", etc.

This is funny, I have seen Apple publish papers, libraries for past couple years. They have a different approach doesn’t mean they are behind Or ahead. Different focus and I like on device use than send data to servers. iOS and Mac will be integrated with these models.

 

[Ethosik]

You have to wonder about the motivation to push AI so heavily. On the one hand, it certainly can, in some circumstances, solve problems that are traditionally very difficult to solve with a heuristic approach. But part of me is mindful of the fact that with most AI implementations, data is going to a server. And that raises all kinds of questions about privacy. And I wonder... is that a motivation? Access to huge amounts of data from users that were previously not available.

Colour me paranoid?

It’s just Google search 2.0. I have been using it for months. Anything it generates I can find the EXACT IMAGE if I look long enough online. It doesn’t generate anything new. Same with code.

 

[JungleNYC]

Because they've largely been on cruise control and have stopped really pushing on innovation

The iPhone drives the whole ship (revenue wise) and every year it's "tweak the camera and slightly change the shape or add a button", etc.

Agree. And once companies get past "big" it becomes very, very difficult to manage this.

 

[t122648]

I see my decision earlier this year to go back to Android is looking more and more to be correct. I can't believe I find myself saying this but I trust google more than FB and therefore now will lump Apple with FB and trust google more than Apple.

 

[NMBob]

"Music is in our DNA." "Surveillance is in our AI."

 

[Ethosik]

Because they've largely been on cruise control and have stopped really pushing on innovation

The iPhone drives the whole ship (revenue wise) and every year it's "tweak the camera and slightly change the shape or add a button", etc.

Apple silicon Mac’s are quite innovative. I agree with you on the phone though. Only reason I upgraded was for USB-C. I was a few phones behind anyway.

 

[ChrisA]

Meta open source the weights for their Llama3 model. Anyone can download it and run it locally, with no connection to Meta. I have a reduced-size version of Llama3 running on my M2-Pro Mac Mini, 16GB. It runs very well. But the full-size Llama3 would require quite a lot of RAM maybe you might want the Mac Studio.

For many uses the smaller version works well enough. My use is a front-end for robotics. A user would be able to command a robot by voice

 

[BigBrotherNowWatching]

Titanic? As in sinking boat?
Generative AI is just the beginning and it's here to stay.

This is so stupid. Apple wants their users to trust Mark Zuckerberg ?

I can't believe it. Gay ******** like the Vision Pro. Tim has no ideas left. He should really leave now.

 

[lenningj]

This could be a way to just bulk up user numbers and push a subscription model eventually. With each AI service trying to get as many eyes on their product

 

[ChrisA]

Llama 3 is quite good. It runs quickly on Apple Silicon and is easy to use with LM Studio. Note that nothing goes to Meta when using the model.

Are you running the full-size version on AS? If so what Apple hardware are you running. Have you measured tokens/second?

I have the 8B (or is it 7B, I'd have to look) parameter Llama3 quantized to 8-bits running on a M2-Pro 16GB. But I'm very interested in how the full Llam3 does on AS.

 

[DougieS]

No, I will not grant any access to Meta at all!

I hope there will be a toggle to switch off certain AI providers being offered.

 

[coolfactor]

I have to disagree with this take. What they're doing with Apple Intelligence is pretty revolutionary in the AI space as far as keeping everything completely private and inaccessible by even Apple and allowing security researchers to bug bounty any holes they find.

OpenAI is only used too with expressed permission from the user if it's something Siri can't do.

I'm not a fan of AI but I have to give credit where credit is due.

Bingo. Apple is positioning their devices to be a "default client" of these AI services, rather than each service being standalone.

Users don't have to think "hey, I'll go ask this service" or "I'll go ask that service". Nope, they just need to ask Siri, and all services are ready to be invoked.

Furthermore, each service specializes in one way or another, and Siri can use that knowledge to choose the best service to answer a query or perform a task.

Apple is not behind. They don't need to be "just another service" to compete. They are in a unique position to ride the wave by being a hardware and software vendor. This is what the critics keep missing.

Each 3rd-party service will be opt-in by default, so there's no added risk by default.

Amazing that Apple is not paying OpenAI! But will we get ads in the responses to "upgrade to OpenAI Premium"?

 

[lsbsonoma]

Apple has held discussions with Meta about integrating the Facebook owner's AI model into iOS 18 as part of its Apple Intelligence feature set, according to a report over the weekend.

Meta launched Llama 2, its large language model, in July 2023, and in April, the company released the latest versions of its AI models, called Llama 3. The Wall Street Journal reports that the two longtime rivals have held talks about offering Meta's model as an additional option to OpenAI's ChatGPT. The paywalled report notes that the discussions haven't been finalized and could fall through.

As part of Apple Intelligence, Apple has announced a partnership with OpenAI that will allow Siri to access ChatGPT directly in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia to provide better responses in relevant situations. Using ChatGPT will be optional, so users with concerns about the technology can abstain and still make use of Apple's own new AI features.

Speaking at WWDC 2024, Apple's senior VP of software engineering Craig Federighi said that the company eventually wants to give its users a choice between different AI models. Federighi also suggested that Google Gemini could be an option in the future.

Apple isn't paying OpenAI as part of the partnership, and WSJ reports that discussions with other AI companies have similarly taken place with the understanding that neither party will pay each other. Rather, pushing an AI model to hundreds of millions of Apple devices is considered to be of equal or greater value: AI companies get to sell premium subscriptions to their services through Apple Intelligence, while Apple is in a position to take a commission on sales.

However, it's still not clear how much of a financial windfall such deals will be for AI companies in the long term, given that a surge of users from Apple devices will undoubtedly require more of the companies' own compute power and budget.

Article Link: Apple and Meta Reportedly Discussed AI Partnership for iOS 18

The day Apple partners with the likes of MZ for anything is the day I leave Apple after 30+ years of support.

 

[darngooddesign]

Not surprising how quickly all the “isn't it great how the EU mandates choices” fans are changing their tune.

 

[coolfactor]

I hate the idea of AI. It is not artificial intelligence at all. It is still programmed by someone With all their inherent biases and prejudices. Meanwhile Apple is morphing into a company I truly do not recognize.

i suggest you watch Coded Bias. You might understand some people’s dislike and fear of this technology. It is beyond scary.

You are correct that what has been called "A.I" for years has not really been true intelligence. It's been pre-trained machine-learning models specializing in certain subject areas. However, this latest era of "generative" AI is different. This gives agents access to massive repositories of "knowledge" across a range of subjects, and this has also been the main source of concern since much of that knowledge was acquired from "scraping" sources that haven't granted consent.

That's why Apple has proceeded carefully, and why we are in a unique position to get us a truly unique "smart agent" via Siri. Unlike each AI service that only has access to its own knowledge base, Siri will be able to span across multiple services simultaneously, while also doing so in a way that minimizes risk. Combine that with HomeKit, CarPlay, etc... and we'll see true "AI everywhere" that won't be possible on other platforms.

 

[OrcaAreCute]

This shows that despite all of the rhetoric, Apple will eventually sell us out.

 

[subjonas]

I think the Apple execs said Siri AI is going to be a gate to multiple different optional LLMs, because each LLM will specialize in something that may be useful to the user. So if Meta’s is uniquely good at something useful/desirable, Apple will probably add it to the list. I do expect Apple to try to secure their users’ data privacy as much as possible, and be transparent about any data not secured. And of course it will be opt in, but hopefully it won’t keep asking to opt in.

 

[NT1440]

I think the Apple execs said Siri AI is going to be a gate to multiple different optional LLMs, because each LLM will specialize in something that may be useful to the user. So if Meta’s is uniquely good at something useful/desirable, Apple will probably add it to the list. I do expect Apple to try to secure their users’ data privacy as much as possible, and be transparent about any data not secured. And of course it will be opt in, but hopefully it won’t keep asking to opt in.

Craig explicitly said their stance is to treat it like Search in Safari. You get options for external AI’s if you have a reason to use them.

I’d bet 3 years from now actual usage statistics for external AI usage will be under 10% of the user base.

 

[Ash Pole]

Meta’s existence is completely dependent on selling ads…period.
The more personal information they have on you, the easier it is.

 

[NT1440]

Meta’s existence is completely dependent on selling ads…period.
The more personal information they have on you, the easier it is.

Meta, Google, etc. pretty much most of Silicon Valley is based on using data as their business model.

Apple on the other hand, from a business model perspective, can afford to bring privacy to the masses because data itself is NOT their core business.

 

[dannyyankou]

Apple desperately scrambling for an AI life raft on the generative Titanic.

Like it or not, generative AI is useful and it will be here for a long time. Small example, but yesterday my mom was wondering what year a small local restaurant opened. Tried to search on Google and it was difficult to find an answer. But I asked ChatGPT and it instantly answered me.

And it's been useful for more complex queries as well.

 

[Mcsnee]

Hard pass. I will disable any features that require sharing information with Meta, and if they can't be disabled, I'll look for another phone manufacturer.

 

[macfacts]

I’m just so tired of AI being added to every product in existence. It’s all everyone talks about anymore. All this generative stuff doesn’t really generate new stuff but pulls random content others have created.

Nintendo didn't do this. looks original to me

 

[JungleNYC]

Not surprising how quickly all the “isn't it great how the EU mandates choices” fans are changing their tune.

It's astonishing how many people actually seem to think the EU as it currently exists is a good thing. Ease of travel? Yes! A shared currency… Sure! A massive central command bureaucracy filled with middling apparatchiks determined to micromanage every aspect of our lives, taking precedence over local law and tradition "for your own good"… 🥴