Evolution of Apple's Siri: The company is investing millions of dollars in its AI language model named ‘Ajax’

Apple is making substantial financial commitments to supercharge its digital assistant, Siri, with advanced generative AI capabilities, according to a report by The Information. The company's dedicated efforts in this domain include a daily expenditure running into millions to develop an in-house AI language model named ‘Ajax.’

Apple is determined to transform Siri into a conversational powerhouse powered by generative AI. This strategic move signifies Apple's unwavering commitment to maintaining its leadership position in the realm of digital voice assistants.

Integration with iOS 18 & beyond

As part of the anticipated iOS 18 update, set to debut in late 2024, Siri will enjoy deeper integration with the Shortcuts automation tool. Additionally, Apple's Siri development team has ambitious plans to incorporate language models, empowering users to automate intricate tasks using generative AI.

Meet Ajax: Apple's generative AI model

According to the report, Apple has developed its proprietary framework, known as ‘Ajax,’ for constructing extensive language models, which are AI systems that drive technologies similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard. Ajax is hosted on Google Cloud and was constructed using Google JAX, Google's machine learning framework, as per Bloomberg's information.

Here, it must be mentioned that Johnny Giannandrea, a former Google employee who now works for Apple, and how Apple just hired a 16-person team called the ‘Foundational Model’ to carry out in-depth research on multimodal AI.

Ajax GPT: A powerhouse language model

Bloomberg's earlier report revealed that Apple's large language model, Ajax GPT, is expected to surpass the capabilities of OpenAI's ChatGPT 3.5. This means it could support over an astonishing 175 billion parameters, underscoring Apple's dedication to AI innovation.

Interestingly, it's not just Apple delving into generative AI. Google has also been actively incorporating its own generative AI, called ‘Duet,’ within the Android ecosystem.

At the same time, Apple's significant investments in AI and generative capabilities demonstrate the pivotal role these technologies are set to play in shaping the future of digital interactions and automation.