After a full sixteen year cycle, Ultraman, who relied on the Apple platform to promote new products, is highly likely to become the key figure in rescuing Apple next week.
In the latest article by renowned whistleblower Mark Goodman, he once again confirmed that Apple will announce a deep cooperation agreement with OpenAI next week. At the same time, Apple has not given up on its dream of developing top-notch AI and will use embodied intelligent robots to name the company.
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Sixteen years ago, 23-year-old Altman stood on the stage of Apple's WWDC conference with a green face, and while trying to promote his friend positioning software Loopt, he enthusiastically praised Apple's App Store just released that year - "This is a new era of mobile Internet, and I'm very happy to be a part of it."
Sixteen years later, the relationship between the two sides changed from "Ultraman needs Apple's App Store" to "Apple needs Ultraman's AI". Although it is unlikely for Ultraman, as a globally renowned AI superstar, to personally attend Apple's press conference, the collaboration between the two sides will still be the most eye-catching feature in the global technology industry next week.
Gurman revealed that through this collaboration, OpenAI technology will be integrated into hundreds of millions of Apple devices, and Apple will also be able to access the hottest technology available today.
For Apple CEO Cook, next week will also be another important moment in his career - he must prove to the market that the company can continue to thrive in the era of artificial intelligence. Due to the stagnation of its core business, Apple has experienced a decline in revenue in 5 of its past 6 quarters of financial reports.
Using OpenAI as Intel?
The core reason why Apple will open its system to external software service providers is still that the company believes that its self-developed AI still lacks competitiveness.
It is reported that while ChatGPT has become popular worldwide, Apple's artificial intelligence and software engineering departments have begun developing a competitor framework called Ajax. To this day, Apple's internal evaluation is that its self-developed AI can support new features such as voice memo transcription, photo editing, automatic message reply, and Safari's AI search. However, in terms of chatbots and instant AI assistance, it still lags far behind OpenAI and Google.
This discovery has also put Apple in a predicament - the company's own technology is not yet ready, and some executives within Apple have a "philosophical aversion" to introducing chatbots. But it is clear that consumers' desire for AI services is overwhelming. In the past few months, Apple has started meeting with Google, OpenAI, and a series of startups to discuss integrating their technology into iOS.
According to insiders, there are several reasons why Apple chose OpenAI as its first AI partner: firstly, OpenAI provides better commercial terms than Google, and secondly, Apple also believes that OpenAI's technology is the best on the market. Finally, there is a small concern: Google is not only the developer of the Gemini model, but also the headquarters of Android. If Google's artificial intelligence is introduced into the iPhone, it may be perceived by the outside world that iOS has lost to its biggest competitor in an important emerging field.
It is reported that Apple is still in negotiations with Google to introduce Gemini, and the final form may introduce a series of third-party chatbots. According to insiders, Apple is conducting "case by case negotiations" for each collaboration.
It is reported that based on the degree of integration between the two parties, there is a possibility that OpenAI can access the privacy of Apple users. So insiders say that the new artificial intelligence features will be a selective service that customers with privacy concerns can easily refuse to use.
Anyway, Apple's introduction of OpenAI collaboration is more likely to be a stopgap measure. Just like how Mac computers used Intel chips back then, when their own chips matured, they decisively kicked out the declining Intel.
Siri's founder Dag Kittlaus also stated that for Apple, the collaboration with OpenAI is a "short-term to medium-term relationship," but Apple will definitely build its own capabilities.
Beyond chatbots
As a consumer electronics giant, Apple's ambition is clearly not limited to chatbots.
Gurman stated that Apple is using a big language model to help drive two secret robot devices under development. This includes a desktop robot arm with a display screen similar to a large iPad, another mobile robot that can follow users to handle household chores, and the company is also considering equipping AirPods with cameras and AI functions.
Kittlaus also stated that with Apple entering the AI era, there are now no technical constraints on achieving the initial Siri vision.