Apple has released a range of new AI models designed to run locally on the device rather than in the cloud, potentially paving the way for an AI-powered iOS 18 in the not too distant future.
The iPhone giant has doubled down on AI in recent months, with a carefully divided focus on cloud and on-device AI. We saw leaks earlier this week that indicate this Apple plans to make its own AI server chipsSo this unveiling of new local large language models (LLMs) shows the company’s commitment to both types of AI software. I’ll go into more detail about the implications of this, but for now let’s explain exactly what these new models are.
The suite of AI tools includes eight different models, called OpenELMs (Open-source Efficient Language Models). As the name suggests, these models are completely open-source and available on the Hugging facial hub, an online community for AI developers and enthusiasts. Apple too published a white paper explanation about the new models. Four are pre-trained on CoreNet (formerly CVNets), a massive library of data used for training AI language models, while the other four are ‘instruction-tuned’ by Apple; a process of carefully honing an AI model’s learning parameters to respond to specific cues.
Releasing open source software is a somewhat unusual move by Apple, which typically has a fairly tight grip on its software ecosystem. The company claims it wants to “empower and enrich” public AI research by releasing the OpenELMs to the broader AI community.
What does this actually mean for users?
Apple has made a serious commitment to AI recently, which is good to see as competition is fierce in both the phone and laptop arenas, with things like the Google Pixel8‘s AI-powered Tensor chip and Qualcomm’s latest AI chip is coming to Surface devices.
By announcing its new on-device AI models to the world in this way, Apple is likely hoping that some enterprising developers will help fix the problems and ultimately improve the software – something that could prove crucial if it plans to implement new local AI tools. in future versions of iOS and macOS.
It’s worth bearing in mind that the average Apple device is already packed with AI capabilities, with the Apple Neural Engine found on the company’s A and M series chips offering features such as Face ID and controls Animoji. The following M4 chip for Mac systems also appears to have new AI-related processing capabilities, something that is quickly becoming a necessity as more established professional software implements machine learning tools (such as Firefly in Adobe Photoshop).
In other words, we can probably expect AI to be the hot topic for iOS 18 and macOS 15. I just hope it’s used for smart and unique new features, rather than The constant nagging of Microsoft’s Copilot.