iPhone AI Features Could Be Faster, but Less Powerful Than ChatGPT and Gemini: Report

Apple is heavily rumoured to introduce its artificial intelligence (AI) strategy in June 2024 during its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) event. A new report has highlighted that the company could integrate AI features into its iPhone and other devices in an innovative way, ditching the popular chatbot-styled features offered by Samsung's Galaxy AI and Oppo. The need for novel integration also arises as the tech giant is said to offer an entirely on-device AI feature suite, which could make them faster, but less powerful than rivals.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman's, via his Power On newsletter, the Cupertino-based tech firm is gearing up to reveal its AI strategy soon, which could be presented much differently than how AI firms have so far. Instead of presenting an AI chatbot such as ChatGPT, Copilot, or Gemini, which offers a conversational interface to access AI tools and features, Apple might integrate it in a new way. “Rather than touting the power of chatbots and other generative AI tools, Apple plans to show how the technology can help people in their daily lives,” said the report.

The iPhone maker has spent decades building its predictive machine-learning algorithms into many of its basic features. The impact of the technology can be seen in Siri, the Photos App, and recently launched Personal Voices. It is believed that the generative AI features could also be added through an intuitive interface where AI works in the background without requiring the user's commands.

While the ambition is larger, one thing that might prove to be a major hurdle is the company's decision to go ‘on-device' with the implementation of AI. The report highlighted that Apple is likely to keep the AI features running within the device instead of on the cloud for privacy, and while it will improve the overall speed of the features, there is a downside. Limited by the compute capability of the device's hardware, these features may not be as powerful as their rivals.

One solution the tech giant is exploring currently is a partnership with Google, which could help bridge some of the gap. Despite the support, Apple's in-house large language model (LLM) could struggle to match the capabilities and knowledge base of OpenAI's GPT or Google's Gemini given that it would be the first generation of the technology. However, Apple is known to surprise its users by innovating on existing technology. Last year at the WWDC, it was the Apple Vision Pro which showcased the unique capabilities of mixed-reality headsets. This year, it could be Apple AI.