Apple holds talks with rival Meta over AI: WSJ reports

Apple is reportedly talking to major rival Meta about AI in a move that has potential to change the digital landscape forever.

Apple is talking to major rival Meta about integrating the Facebook parent company’s generative AI into its products, potentially ending a decade-long war between the tech titans, the Wall Street Journal has reported.

The report comes after Apple also struck a deal with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, to help equip its Apple Intelligence suite with new AI features for its coveted products.

If Meta and Apple formed a partnership, it would significantly enhance Apple’s AI capabilities, establishing it as a strong contender in the AI industry.

Meanwhile, Meta’s AI technologies would be introduced to Apple’s mammoth consumer base, which is estimated to have exceeded 1.7 billion.

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Picture: AFP

Meta founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg. Picture: AFP

For months, Apple has been under pressure to persuade doubters about its AI strategy after Microsoft and Google rolled out products in rapid succession.

It has developed its own, smaller artificial intelligence but said that it will turn to others such as OpenAI to boost its in-house offering.

According to the Journal, which cited sources close to the matter, Meta has discussed integrating its generative AI model into Apple Intelligence with Apple.

Apple senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi said in early June that Apple wanted to integrate capabilities from Google’s generative AI system, Gemini, into its devices.

Apple senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi recently said the tech titan was looking to Google for an AI system to integrate into its devices. Picture: AFP

According to analysts, Apple’s big challenge has been infusing ChatGPT-style AI — which voraciously feeds off data — into its products without weakening its heavily promoted user privacy and security.

Apple Intelligence will enable users to create their own emojis based on everyday language descriptions or generate brief email summaries in the mailbox.

Apple recently said Siri, its voice assistant, will also get an AI-infused upgrade and now will appear as a pulsating light on the edge of your home screen.

Launched over 12 years ago, Siri has long since been seen as a dated feature, overtaken by the new generation of assistants, such as GPT-4.0.

Apple recently said Siri will also get an AI upgrade. Picture: AFP

According to Canalys, 16 per cent of smartphones shipped this year will be equipped with generative AI features, a proportion it expects to rise to 54 per cent by 2028.

The WSJ reported on Sunday that ChatGPT usage is expected to double with the Apple partnership while OpenAI’s infrastructure costs are expected to grow 30 per cent to 40 per cent.

Gene Munster, a long-time Apple analyst and managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, forecasted that 10-20 per cent of Apple users would pay for a premium AI subscription to a product like ChatGPT, meaning integrating with Apple’s new platform would be highly lucrative.

“Distribution is hard to get,” Mr Munster told the WSJ.

“The beauty of what Apple has built is that you’ve got this engaged distribution at scale.”

It’s understood that a partnership between Apple and Meta would help elevate its efforts in the AI race while also representing a rare olive branch between the social media giant and the iPhone maker, which have been in conflict for over a decade.

Meta’s AI, popular in tech circles, would potentially be introduced to Apple’s mammoth global consumer base. Picture: AFP

In 2021, Apple introduced privacy changes to its mobile devices, which Meta later stated would result in a $10 billion revenue loss in 2022.

In April, Meta published instructions urging advertisers to use a workaround to avoid a 30 per cent service charge to Apple for “boosted posts,” a type of advertising that has been a point of contention between the two companies for years, as reported by WSJat the time.

Meta introduced its large language model, Llama 2, in July 2023, and in April, the company unveiled the latest versions of its AI models, known as Llama 3.

Llama has gained significant support in the tech industry and among start-ups, but securing a deal with Apple would be a major achievement for Mark Zuckerberg and his company’s AI division.

The WSJ also reports that Apple stands to benefit from avoiding over-reliance on OpenAI.

– With AFP

Originally published as Apple holds talks with rival Meta over AI: WSJ reports