Tech giant Apple has been secretly expanding its artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities by ramping up hiring and establishing a covert research facility in Zurich, Switzerland. The company looks set for further AI integration across its devices, possibly even leasing a chatbot in response to budding AI-use trends.
Analysis of LinkedIn profiles, job listings, and research papers by the Financial Times (FT) reveals that Apple has significantly increased its AI and machine learning team in recent years. The $2.7 trillion company seems particularly interested in Google’s talent, having recruited an estimated 36 individuals from the tech rival since 2018.
Despite the bulk of Apple’s AI team operating from offices in California and Seattle, the company has notably grown its presence in Zurich. Professor Luc Van Gool of Switzerland’s ETH Zurich attributes this to Apple’s acquisitions of two local AI startups – the virtual reality group FaceShift and image recognition firm Fashwell. Following these purchases, Apple established the “Vision Lab” in Zurich.
Though Apple was initially sluggish in its pursuit of generative AI, evidence of an intensifying focus on R&D in this area is more pronounced. Notable progress in 2023 came with scaling up investment in generative AI to $1 billion annually.
The company is seemingly intent on utilizing generative AI across its mobile devices and computers. This emphasis could lead to an upgraded Siri function, making meaningful progress in data collection and AI software product deployment. The prospect of these advancements being part of the firm’s Apple Vision Pro platform seems likely.
Apple’s commitment to AI development has been praised by industry experts. Chuck Wooters, an LLM expert with a historical association with Apple, cited earlier intent within the company to move towards a neural architecture for speech recognition, despite the relative immaturity of large language models.
CEO Tim Cook affirmed last year that AI underpins a majority of Apple’s products. Speculation on future AI releases, such as discussion around a chatbot codenamed “Apple GPT”, point to additional developments. Acquisitions such as that of Perceptual Machines in 2016, a company founded by esteemed Carnegie Mellon researchers specializing in ML image detection and classification, further highlight Apple’s dedication to AI innovation.
Rumours suggest that Apple may reveal discoveries in generative AI during the forthcoming Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
