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Apple loses top AI, Siri engineers to Alphabet
Friday, April 28, 2023 10:06 am

Apple is having a hard time convincing top engineers that Siri can keep up with AI-focused rivals. Apple has recently lost three top engineers working on AI technology to Google-parent Alphabet, The Information reports.

Hasan Chowdhuryfor BusinessInsider:

Apple has lost three top engineers working on ChatGPT-like technology to Google, in a sign the iPhone-maker is struggling to supercharge its AI efforts and Siri as large language models go mainstream.

Srinivasan Venkatachary, Steven Baker and Anand Shukl quit because they believed Google was a better place to work on the large language models underlying tools like ChatGPT, which went viral on its release in late November.

They were personally poached by Google CEO Sundar Pichai after shunning Apple boss Tim Cook’s efforts to keep them, the report said.

Linkedin shows that all three left Apple for Google through October and November last year…

Former Apple employees who worked on AI told The Information that “organizational dysfunction and a lack of ambition” had proven to be crucial barriers in the company’s ambitions to become a serious AI player, with few improvements made over the past five years.

MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote earlier this month, we’ve long ago given up on Siri to make any great leaps in terms of capabilities, as has, seemingly, Apple. It’s sad, really. Were Steve Jobs still with us, we expect Siri would not be the embarrassing, charred, abandoned dumpster it is today.

We asked Siri, “”Where is Apple’s generative AI?”” Siri responded “here’s what I found” and offered some article links discussing Apple’s silence on the matter.

So, we asked ChatGPT the same question. ChatGPT responded:

Apple has been investing in generative AI technologies in various ways, but the specifics of their current status and location are not publicly disclosed. Apple is known for being very secretive about its product development and research initiatives, so it’s hard to say exactly where or how their generative AI is being developed or deployed.

However, Apple has made several acquisitions in the AI space in recent years, such as Xnor.ai, Voysis, and Vilynx, which suggests that they are likely actively exploring and developing generative AI capabilities.

Apple has also integrated AI technology into many of their products, such as Siri, the digital assistant that uses natural language processing to interpret user requests, and the “Photos” app, which uses machine learning algorithms to automatically organize and categorize users’ photos.

In short, Apple’s generative AI is likely being developed and deployed across various products and services, but the specifics of their initiatives are not publicly known.

https://macdailynews.com/2023/04/28/apple-loses-top-ai-siri-engineers-to-alphabet/