When Apple has wanted to chart its own course in a new direction, it has either acquired or hired the intellectual property or people it has needed. But the breakneck speed of the AI revolution has forced Apple to reconsider. If the rumours are correct, Apple is in talks with Anthropic PBC and OpenAI to use their AI models to power Apple Intelligence.
Well known Apple pundit Mark Gurman says Apple has had talks with those companies about running their models on Apple’s own infrastructure. This should overcome any privacy concerns users may have when it comes to running AI from non-Apple providers.
OpenAI is the developer of ChatGPT while Anthropic PBC created Claude.
Apple is continuing development of its own Large Language Model, dubbed LLM Siri, in parallel suggesting it is making an each way bet. It may well be the case that Apple initially integrates these third-party models into Siri and other Apple Intelligence features and phases them out as their own models improve.
Although Siri led the market when it as introduced in 2011, it has slowly fallen behind. That lag has accelerated sharply putting Apple in a defensive position. When it launched Apple Intelligence at WWDC 2024, it made some grand promises but has failed to deliver on them. That’s not for a lack of effort but they have been beaten at every turn by companies that have spent many years developing their AI tools.
Apple has not been able to catch up with where OpenAI and the others were in 2023, much less where they are today.
Opinion
Apple Intelligence was a very clever piece of marketing. The branding strategy was almost perfect but the product was nowhere near ready. Typically, when Apple releases a new product or service, the engineering, marketing and sales teams are all in alignment.
It seems that Apple Intelligence was marketing-led and the engineering team didn’t or couldn’t deliver on the promises or expectations that were set. And it’s clear Apple was not watching or not taking seriously what was happening in the world of AI development. Perhaps it was too distracted by Project Titan, the now closed down project to build an Apple car.
This points to a failure in management driven either by panic or a lack of understanding in the complexity of what they were trying to achieve.
Either way, this has been a significant strategic failure.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.