UPDATE: Jun. 25, 2024, 8:03 a.m. EDT A new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman disputes the Wall Street Journal's report, stating that Apple rejected the idea of partnering with Meta and that no formal conversations ever took place. The story has been updated to include this information.
Meta AI might be coming to iPhones and other Apple devices, depending on who you believe.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Meta and Apple are in talks for a potential partnership that would integrate Meta's generative AI model into Apple Intelligence.
It seemed that Apple and Meta are putting aside a longstanding feud over privacy and revenue-sharing in favor of establishing footing in the competition for AI dominance. For Meta, the partnership could mean wider distribution of its AI features. For Apple, it would insulate the company from any over-reliance on its OpenAI partnership.
At WWDC earlier this month, Apple announced a deal with OpenAI that brings ChatGPT to iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia. But that's not the only AI model Apple is planning to add to its operating systems. In a post-keynote discussion with iJustine, senior VP of software engineering Craig Federighi said Apple is also looking to integrate Google Gemini and other AI models.
"We think ultimately people are going to have a preference perhaps for certain models that they want to use, maybe one that’s great for creative writing or one that they prefer for coding. And so we want to enable users ultimately to bring a model of their choice," said Federighi.
Now it looks like Meta AI might be one of the models that Apple users can choose to interact with. The Journal also said Apple is also in with talks with Anthropic (which makes the ChatGPT competitor Claude), and Perplexity, which is an AI-powered search engine.
However, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman on Tuesday, June 25 published a report disputing WSJ, stating that Apple rejected partnering with Meta months ago and that no formal discussions were held.
Apple Intelligence is the collection of AI features the company has developed for iPhones, iPads, and Macs. But Apple has chosen to supplement AI capabilities with ChatGPT for improved Siri functionality and features like drafting emails and generating images. Notably, Apple touted a privacy-first approach with the ChatGPT announcement and says users will be asked for permission before sharing information with ChatGPT.
The potential Meta partnership raises the question of how Apple will protect user privacy, since Meta doesn't have a great track record with that. Meta AI is trained on users' posts and other publicly shared data on its platforms and it's nearly impossible to opt out.
It's unclear what the terms of the deal would be. But we know that Apple "paid" OpenAI with distribution and access instead of cash. Partnering with Apple could similarly boost Meta's userbase and increase its stature in the cutthroat generative AI race.
