Apple partnered with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT in iOS 18, and now it appears the iPhone maker has held talks with Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, to integrate the latter’s generative AI model into Apple Intelligence, reports the Wall Street Journal.
The partnership would allow Meta and other AI developers to leverage Apple’s vast distribution network through its iPhones, similar to the exposure provided by Apple’s App Store. Apple’s move to engage with Meta comes as the tech giant seeks partners to enhance its AI capabilities, having initially relied on smaller, in-house models.
“We wanted to start with the best,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering at WWDC, referring to ChatGPT as “the best choice for our users today.” Federighi also mentioned plans to integrate Google’s Gemini.
In addition to Meta, other AI companies such as Anthropic and Perplexity are reportedly in talks with Apple to incorporate their generative AI models into Apple Intelligence.
Federighi explained that Apple’s strategy involves offering multiple AI models because different tasks may require different types of expertise. “People are going to want to draw on that kind of expertise that might not be part of our core,” he said at the developers conference.
A potential partnership with Meta would mark a huge milestone. Apple made privacy changes in 2021 that impacted Meta’s revenue. Apple CEO Tim Cook has blasted Facebook in the past for its privacy overreach.
Sources indicated that Apple has not sought payment in these negotiations. Instead, AI companies could offer premium subscriptions through Apple Intelligence, with Apple taking a cut of the revenue, similar to its App Store model. Clever.
Meta debuted its large language model, Llama 2, in 2023, and the latest version, Llama 3, was released in April 2024. Apple said at WWDC that it plans to expand its AI partnerships beyond OpenAI.
Apple Intelligence, which is coming in iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS 15 Sequoia, will require an iPhone 15 Pro or newer. Macs and iPads will require an M1 chip or newer to gain access to these new AI features. For users on older Apple devices, they will have to upgrade to newer versions to use Apple Intelligence.
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