New Report Shows Apple Poaching Google AI Talent
Apple, the multi-trillion dollar valued company, is quietly ramping up its artificial intelligence capabilities. How? By poaching top talent from rival Google and others in the tech space, while establishing a low-profile AI lab in Zurich, Switzerland.
According to a Financial Times analysis, Apple has hired at least 36 AI specialists from Google since 2018, following the high-profile recruitment of John Giannandrea, former head of Google Brain, to lead its AI initiatives. The company’s strategic hires underscore its commitment to advancing AI technology, which is becoming a pivotal battleground in the tech industry.
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Apple’s secretive “Vision Lab” in Zurich, developed after acquiring local AI start-ups FaceShift and Fashwell, displays the shift toward generative AI. The lab’s research focuses on advanced AI models that integrate text and visual inputs to enhance user interactions, mirroring technologies seen in OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Despite the aggressive expansion, Apple maintains its characteristic secrecy about its AI ambitions, unlike its competitors Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, who openly discuss their AI investments. But this secretive approach has not gone unnoticed. Industry insiders reveal that Apple aims to integrate generative AI directly into its mobile devices.
This would mark a significant move against the main smartphone rival Samsung, allowing AI applications to operate independently of cloud-based data centers. “Apple has been doing research across a wide range of AI technologies,” said CEO Tim Cook.
He made the statement while emphasizing the company’s track record of responsible innovation strategy. This includes a long history with AI, dating back to the development of Siri, the voice assistant that pioneered the use of neural networks for speech recognition.
The focus on device-based processing necessitates more robust hardware, which is likely to drive demand for higher-capacity dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips. “The next big thing is going to be AI smartphones, which will require a lot more DRAM,” noted Sumit Sadana, chief business officer at Micron Technology.
Apple’s cautious approach to AI rollout can also be attributed to the potential pitfalls of language models, which can generate inaccurate or problematic responses. “They can’t release something they can’t fully control,” explained Ruslan Salakhutdinov, a former director of AI research at Apple.
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As the industry anticipates Apple’s next moves, all eyes are on the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference which will happen in June. Analysts expect the event to showcase new AI-driven functionalities that could supercharge user interaction with their devices.
“What we’ll be looking for at WWDC are previews of one or two AI features that can become game changers for the average consumer,” said Erik Woodring, an analyst at Morgan Stanley.
Originally posted on OpenDataScience.com
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