Rumor: Some iOS 18 AI features to use data centers equipped with Apple silicon chips
Some artificial intelligence (AI) features coming with iOS 18 this year could use data centers powered by the Apple silicon M2 Ultra chips.
Mark Gurman writes in a new report for Bloomberg that the iPhone maker will extend Apple silicon to data centers for the first time ever.
“The company is placing high-end chips—similar to ones it designed for the Mac—in cloud-computing servers designed to process the most advanced AI tasks coming to Apple devices,” Gurman has learned from people familiar with the matter.
These servers will allegedly power some of the AI features in iOS 18. “Simpler AI-related features” will be processed directly on iPhones, iPads and Macs, he said. More complex generative AI features like image generation, article summarization and some Siri features will require cloud connectivity.
iOS 18 AI could use Apple silicon data centers
Apple ditched Intel for custom Mac chips in 2020. If Gurman is correct, the company will equip data centers with Mac-grade U2 Ultra chips in time for iOS 18 this fall. So far, the Cupertino firm has relied on servers from companies such as Amazon and Microsoft, so this would be the first time the company will use not just its own servers but also powered them by its in-house silicon technology.
From the report:
M2 Ultra chips will be behind some of the most advanced AI tasks that are planned for this year and beyond. Apple reportedly accelerated its server building plans in response to the popularity of ChatGPT and other AI products, and future servers could use next-generation M4 chips.
This will also benefit user privacy, the report claims. This is apparently part of Apple’s bigger plan to infuse its servers with Apple silicon technology, including powering servers with the latest M4 chips in the future.
Apple highlighted its AI efforts while unveiling the M4 chip at its “Let Loose” event. Executives said that while some of Apple’s competitors have just begun adding specialized neural processing units to some of its chips, the company has had such a coprocessor for years in iPhones and Macs.
Apple doubles down on the Neural Engine
Apple calls this unit the Neural Engine; one in the M4 chip can perform 38 trillion operations per second. In fact, Apple claims the M4’s Neural Engine “is more powerful than any neural processing unit in any AI PC today.”
In addition, the M4’s CPU has enhanced machine learning accelerators in each processing core. The improved GPU and the higher unified memory bandwidth of 120GB/s also help speed up AI tasks.
Apple claims these improvements—the faster Neural Engine, machine learning accelerators in the CPU, the beefier GPU and the higher memory bandwidth—make the new M4 iPad Pro “an outrageously powerful device for artificial intelligence.”
iOS 18 AI will use large language models
Like with iPhones and Macs, the hope is that in-house chips will give Apple an advantage in AI. Gurman reported earlier that many new AI features in iOS 18 based on large language models will run directly on the device.
For those features that require the power of the cloud, Apple might defer to external partners like OpenAI, Google and Baidu, according to earlier reports. In conclusion, Apple will likely bring new AI features using combined on-device and cloud processing with a strong focus on its privacy-first approach.
Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2024/05/10/apple-silicon-chips-data-centers-ios-18-ai-features-rumor/
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