Apple CEO Tim Cook has just revealed that the company has been working on generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools “for years.” The surprise announcement suggests that Apple could launch a ChatGPT rival — supposedly dubbed “Apple GPT” — sooner than anyone expected.
The announcement was made in an interview with Reuters following Apple’s third-quarter earnings report. Cook explained that higher research and development (R&D) spending at the company had been driven in part by an increased focus on generative AI.
“We’ve been doing research across a wide range of AI technologies, including generative AI, for years,” Cook said. “We’re going to continue investing and innovating and responsibly advancing our products with these technologies to help enrich people’s lives. Obviously, we’re investing a lot, and it is showing up in the R&D spending that you’re looking at.”
It’s a remarkably frank admission for a company that likes to keep its cards close to its chest. It’s exceedingly unusual for Apple to discuss its future plans, especially in an area like generative AI that could be ripe with lucrative opportunities.
Aside from the rarity of Cook’s comments, they also bring up another interesting point: they could signal that Apple is gearing up to make a major declaration regarding generative AI.
That certainly chimes with comments made by Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman just a couple of weeks ago. Gurman explained that Apple is developing an “Apple GPT” chatbot that could be revealed in a “significant AI-related announcement” as soon as next year.
The fact that Apple has been working on generative AI for years — and that Tim Cook feels now is the right time to unveil the news to the world — suggests that Apple GPT could be at an advanced stage of development. After all, Apple won’t want to keep the world waiting after making such a notable admission.
At the same time, it ramps up the pressure on Apple, now that the cat is out of the bag. There have been concerns that the company could be late to the AI party, and at least one respected analyst has said the company is years behind rivals like ChatGPT.
But with Tim Cook saying Apple has years of research backing up its generative AI efforts, Apple fans will be hoping that the product lives up to the hype. We might not have long to wait before we find out.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Google DeepMind's AI world model Genie 4 can now build interactive worlds that you can explore and reshape as they run. It also generates ambient sounds, music, and dialogue that respond to your actions.
The new world model builds on Genie 3 with improved realism, more natural human movement, and better simulations of real-world physics. It could eventually help with everything from game development to training robots.
Apple has an incredible talent for making me admire its products while simultaneously questioning what on earth it's thinking with the pricing. This isn't even something as bizarre as a monitor stand, but the audacity for starting a new laptop lineup from $2,000 doesn't surprise me.
The newly announced 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 is just the latest to showcase this. The funny thing is, I already know that it's going to be a reliable workstation. You get a powerful new 2nm M6 processor, a gorgeous Liquid Retina XDR display, and up to 24 hours of battery life. We were impressed by the M5 MacBook Air, so the high-end M6 powered MacBook Pro definitely won't let us down.