Apple recently defended its strategy to introduce new AI-powered features just for the future iPhones as well as the premium models of the most recent generation. According to the AI chief for Apple, John Giannandrea, this is totally due to technical requirements only. The advanced AI software needs powerful hardware that the older iPhone lacks. While it would all be possible technically to run AI models such as those on older devices, Giannandrea said they would run too slowly to be useful in practice. Read more details here.
Earlier this week, Apple announced a raft of “Apple Intelligence” features designed to enhance the experience of owning an iPhone. These include new advanced editing tools for email, personalized avatars and emojis, and what has been described as a revamped Siri which overshadowed the power of ChatGPT. But all these wonderful features will perform only with the iOS 18 updates later in the second half of 2024, and only on the newest iPhones, as well as on higher-end models of the iPhone 15 that came out late last year.
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There’s more freedom with Macs. All Macs with Apple’s proprietary M-series chips, which began to be installed from 2020 onwards to replace Intel processors, will run these new AI-themed features. The same could be said for iPads carrying the M-chip system. In the same breath, however, Craig Federighi – the Apple chief for software – did stress that the RAM capacity of these gadgets also matters a great deal in determining whether they run the new software.
Apple feels proud of presenting itself as a privacy-focused company and has developed its AI features to do as much of the computation as possible directly on the devices. This is done to better protect the data but increases the performance demands put on the hardware. That said, Apple developed such a procedure that lets tasks be forwarded to its servers in an encrypted form wherein the data gets completely erased from the cloud afterwards. He noted how Apple doesn’t use its user’s given data to train its AI models as part of its commitment to the privacy of its users.
Yet one of the newest features includes image generation from the text prompts. But Apple’s AI, unlike many other AI services, will not create artificial photos in a bid to do away with the risk of making those users generate deep fakes. Such a careful approach underlines an audacious commitment to staying ethical while innovating.
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Although Apple continues to innovate and push the envelope with its technological advancements, the company can still focus on improving aspects of users’ experiences and not compromise its foundation of privacy and security. These new AI features are a massive step forward in many ways but also show how modern software is increasingly taxing hardware capabilities.
