Apple will depend on OpenAI for iOS 18 AI. This is not as good an idea as you might think.

iOS 18, the next version of the iPhone operating system, will have artificial intelligence capabilities, despite Apple’s lack of efforts to develop its own models to compete with OpenAI and its ChatGPT, as well as Google and Gemini. As Mark Gurman (from Bloomberg), a company from Cupertino will collaborate with Sam Altman’s company enable a popular chatbot and improve some features using artificial intelligence. Is this really a good idea?

Specifically, Apple plans to integrate some local AI features (that will run both on the device itself and in the cloud) into iOS 18. In fact, the company—and as Gurman details— managed to make progress in developing AI functions in areas such as image editing, app suggestions, or autofill features in apps like Calendar. But they don’t seem to offer anything different from the generative AI that Google includes in its services (via Gemini Pro) or that Adobe integrates into its editing programs.

Apple’s plan at the moment is: combine your iOS 18 AI with OpenAI’s AI to offer its users something new and therefore be able to compete with manufacturers such as Google or Samsung, who are also integrating artificial intelligence features into their smartphones. However, this is a short-term strategy to avoid the backlog in the development of artificial intelligence products. And, in fact, this has its advantages.

Combining its artificial intelligence with OpenAI’s will allow the company to implement features such as chatbot powered by artificial intelligence, much more advanced than any other that the company itself could develop independently, at least in the short term. First of all, if you take into account the difficulties that Apple faces in training the AI ​​due to the lack of its own search engine from which it could get its model. Additionally, Apple will not suffer if the AI ​​fails since it is not an in-house product.

There are big downsides to Apple’s reliance on OpenAI

This, however, will not allow Apple to become a strong competitor in the field of AI compared to OpenAI or Google; just satisfy user demand. Not to mention other inconveniences that the Cupertino company would have to face due to its association with Sam Altman’s company.

One of them is the freedom with which Apple can launch (and develop) artificial intelligence features in iOS 18 and future versions of its operating systems. The company will have to depend on OpenAI’s roadmap as well as the terms of the aforementioned artificial intelligence company. In other words, Apple will lose control of something that will be key in the medium term.

A prime example was when the Californian company gave up Intel’s choice of custom processors for its Mac, allowing it not only to significantly improve the hardware, but also to have the freedom to launch a model whenever the company deems it necessary.

Apple may also have difficulty depending on OpenAI. Between them emphasis on privacy users and the fact that the company practically does not collect data from them – there are exceptions. One way or another you will have to share information with OpenAI. Moreover, developing a language model like GPT or Gemini while preserving user privacy is almost impossible, given that this is practically the only way to train any model.

On the other hand, the company currently does not have the ability to train its own models. Your current services may not be sufficient for this. They do not have a search engine to provide information for their own AI model, nor do they have a video platform to train models that can serve as an alternative to Sora or other video generation AI.

AI will be the main character of iOS 18

In any case, as Gurman clarifies, Apple’s claims regarding AI in iOS 18 will not be as impressive as those we see from OpenAI or Google. And many functions will even go unnoticed by users. In fact, the above-mentioned journalist assures that inside the country Apple worries that its customers will simply decide not to use them.

However, the list of new AI features in iOS 18 is anything but short. Apple is expected to integrate it into services like Apple Music., to create playlists using generative AI and more. And also in some applications, such as Calendar and others.

Apple, of course Siri will also improve thanks to AI. According to the latest rumors, the voice capabilities of the assistant will be significantly improved, and the tone of the conversation will become more conversational. It will also be able to offer notification summaries and other features designed to make users’ daily lives easier. iOS 18 will be unveiled on June 10 and will officially release this fall.