Apple is seeking partnerships to bolster its artificial intelligence capabilities, following the announcement of Apple Intelligence earlier this month. The company has reportedly been in talks with Meta, Facebook’s parent company, to integrate Meta’s generative AI technology into its products. However, the talks have not been finalized and could still fall through.
Apple’s approach to AI has been described as practical and focused on adding AI-powered features to its existing products, rather than attempting to disrupt the market. The company is leveraging partnerships to go beyond the capabilities of its own AI models, and a deal with Meta could provide validation for Meta’s technology while making Apple less reliant on a single partner.
In a similar deal, Apple partnered with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT into the revamped version of Siri. Apple is not offering to pay for these partnerships, instead providing distribution to AI partners who can then sell premium subscriptions.
Elon Musk, who co-founded OpenAI but is now competing with it through his new startup xAI, expressed concerns about the potential integration of ChatGPT with Apple’s operating systems, threatening to ban Apple devices from his companies. However, Apple has stated that it will ask for users’ permission before sharing any questions and data with ChatGPT, and presumably any integration with Meta would work similarly.
In another development, Apple has announced that it will hold back Apple Intelligence from the European Union, due to the EU’s Digital Markets Act (which is supposed to encourage competition in digital markets). The company is also holding back iPhone Mirroring and SharePlay Screen Sharing from the EU. Apple cited concerns that the interoperability requirements of the DMA could compromise the integrity of its products and risk user privacy and data security.
