(Image source from: x.com/theapplehub)

Apple recently unveiled the beta version of their new AI suite, Apple Intelligence, alongside the developer beta of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia. This update brings Apple's proprietary AI capabilities across their ecosystem, positioning the company as a strong competitor in the AI space. Interestingly, Apple has provided a rare glimpse into the development of these advanced AI features, including the surprising revelation of their partnership with Google for the use of their Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) to train their AI models. Apple's latest publication, "Apple Intelligence Foundation Language Models," offers an in-depth look at the technical foundations of Apple Intelligence. The paper, aimed primarily at researchers, discloses that Apple's two foundational language models, AFM-on-device and AFM-server, were developed using Google's TPUs instead of Apple's own silicon. According to the report, the AFM-on-device model, designed to operate directly on iPhones, utilized 2,048 TPUv5p chips during training, while the larger AFM-server model, which supports more complex tasks from Apple's servers, was trained on 8,192 TPUv4 chips.

Apple is integrating advanced AI capabilities into its software ecosystem, including a coding model to enhance Xcode and a diffusion model to assist users with visual content creation, such as in the Messages app. While the technical details are not fully disclosed, it is noteworthy that Apple has opted for Google's chip over Nvidia's, given the growing competition in the AI field and the industry's efforts to reduce reliance on Nvidia. Earlier, at the 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple introduced Apple Intelligence as a core component of its upcoming software updates. The company described Apple Intelligence as a personal assistant deeply integrated into the user experience across Apple's devices. Apple Intelligence will offer a suite of AI-powered features aimed at enhancing the user experience, including tools to help users draft messages, create visual content, and automate routine tasks.

Apple has begun rolling out the Apple Intelligence features to some users in the iOS and iPadOS 18.1 developer beta. However, this beta is currently only available on the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and compatible iPads and Macs with M1 or later chips. Users must sign up for a waiting list after upgrading their devices to the newest beta versions of iOS, iPadOS, or macOS. Meanwhile, the current beta of Apple's software offers a sneak peek at several new features that were earlier showcased at the company's yearly developer event in June. Updates include a revamped Siri interface that lights up the edges of your phone, an improved ability for Siri to understand commands even when the speaker is tapped, and the ability to answer questions about troubleshooting Apple products. There are also improvements to photo search and video creation, AI-generated summaries for email, message and voicemail transcription, and a new text generation service called Writing Tools. However, some features are not yet available in the current AI preview but will be released next year.