Apple is known for being an innovative company. But in terms of generative AI, it kind of lagging.
When pretty much all tech companies are exploring ways to either create increasingly powerful generative AI, or adopt the technology to benefit their own, kickstarted since the release of ChatGPT from OpenAI, Apple is not pursuing that same idea.
Instead, it fights the hype using what it calls AI to enhance instinctive experience.
Because of this, by the time the company is said to be creating its own ChatGPT rival, the buzz quickly shook the industry.
And after it's revealed that Apple plans to bring generative AI products to the edge, running on its devices without having to connect to the internet, it's also revealed that the company has also released an open source multimodal LLM, called 'Ferret.'
This LLM is comparable to OpenAI's GPT-4.
With little fanfare, researchers at Apple and Columbia University released Ferret back in October 2023.
At the time, the release was only meant for research and for developers alike, not for commercial license or global use. This is why the product didn't receive much attention.
But this time, following discussions revolving Google's Gemini model, which wants to put LLM inside Pixel Pro and eventually Android, people began discussing the potential of running powerful LLMs inside small devices.
And following the release of "LLM in a flash" research paper from Apple, the company also released two research papers introducing novel techniques for 3D avatars and efficient language model inference.
The advancements were hailed as potentially enabling more immersive visual experiences and allowing complex AI systems to run on consumer devices, like the iPhone and the iPad.
That chatter only increased rapidly.
Many in the AI community who noticed the Ferret release celebrated Apple’s open source entry on social media.
AI can run offline. but its abilities are capped.
For example, AI functionalities on smartphones is possible, like to provide basic tasks like setting alarms, making calls, and playing music offline. Image recognition for specific purposes is also possible, and that a certain degree of personalized recommendations is also possible.
Apple's Siri or Google Assistant, or any other AI products for that matter, run limited functionalities on an offline device because their knowledge is extremely limited.
And running generative AI is a different thing.
LLM works on a whole different level. LLMs are considered advanced AI that run on more complex algorithm, which require extensive processing power and memory.
Even in its bare form, there is no way for these AIs to run on smartphones without having to connect to the cloud.
Apple joined the open source AI community back in October, and Ferret’s introduction is a testament to Apple’s commitment to impactful AI research.
In turn, this solidifies its place as a heavyweight contender in the multimodal AI space.