The Future of Siri and Beyond May Hinge on External AI, Says Analyst Gil Luria
Apple is known for its tightly controlled ecosystem and in-house innovation, but it seems to be taking a new direction in the fast-growing race for artificial intelligence. While companies like Google and Amazon spend billions on building basic AI models, Gil Luria, Head of Technology Research at D.A. Davidson, says that Apple’s decision to team up with established AI leaders could save it a lot of money and make its AI capabilities much better. He says that this strategy puts Apple in a good place in the changing AI landscape.
People have been saying for years that Apple’s digital assistant, Siri, isn’t as good at having conversations or having a lot of features as its competitors. Recent news says that Apple is talking to top AI companies like Anthropic and OpenAI about adding their advanced large language models (LLMs) to a new version of Siri. If Apple works with someone else, it would be a break from its usual practice of using its own “Apple Foundation Models.” This shows that the company is willing to use outside expertise in a practical way.
Luria’s main point is strong: why spend billions of dollars building something from scratch when you can work with people who have already made a lot of progress? Apple can quickly make Siri smarter by adding external LLMs. This will make Siri a better assistant that can have more natural conversations. This smart outsourcing could speed up the release of powerful AI features, which could lead to new upgrade cycles for iPhones and boost Apple’s profitable services business.
Apple is a very appealing partner for any AI company because of its enormous user base and commitment to privacy. Because of its unique position, Apple is able to set the rules and select the best AI models to incorporate into its devices while upholding its fundamental commitment to protecting user data through techniques like Private Cloud Compute and on-device processing. This hybrid strategy, which blends state-of-the-art external AI models with Apple’s hardware and privacy infrastructure, might be the secret to success.
Luria and others see this as a wise business move, while others may see it as Apple lagging behind in the AI race. Instead of participating in a costly and resource-intensive arms race for the development of foundational AI, Apple can concentrate on its core competency, which is the seamless integration of cutting-edge technology into hardware and user experiences. In order to improve the value proposition of Apple’s products, the objective is not only to have the most potent AI but also to make it personalized, intuitive, and intricately integrated into the Apple ecosystem. The perceived success of these collaborations and the ensuing user experience will have a significant influence on Apple’s stock, which has fluctuated somewhat in the wake of these reports.