One billion dollars a year, that's the rumored figure for Apple's AI program.In July 2023, Apple built its own large-scale language model, Ajax, and launched an internal chatbot codenamed 'Apple GPT' to test Ajax's capabilities, according to Bloomberg. The key next step is to determine whether the technology meets competitive standards and how Apple will apply it to existing products.What was the billion dollars spent on?Heavily funded AI teamJohn Giannandrea, Apple's senior vice president for artificial intelligence and software engineering, and Craig Federighi are leading these efforts. On Cook's team, they are known as the 'executive sponsors' driving the generative AI program. Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of services, is also reportedly involved, and the aforementioned trio can currently spend around $1 billion a year on the program.Beyond the numerous acquisitions, Apple's own AI development goes back many years. As far back as the introduction of Knowledge Navigator in 1987, to the launch of its speech recognition program in 1990, to the introduction of Siri as the first consumer-grade voice assistant in 2011.Apple actually demonstrated its exploration of AI at a very early stage, but it has been relatively low-keyTheTraditionally, Apple has not been the first to introduce a new technology, especially one that has not been proven to consumers. For example, shortly after the MP3 player was introduced and the market was already proven, Apple didn't enter the market right away, but only after it had identified a superior solution in the form of the iPod.The same can be said for the cell phone space, where while other companies introduced smartphones early on, Apple chose to ensure that it could provide a superior customer experience before entering the market in 2007. Similarly, although tablets were introduced as early as 1989, the product category failed to succeed in the market until Apple introduced the iPad.Apple has always put the consumer experience first, and usually waits until the technology is mature before commercializing it. This prudent strategy circumvents the risk of unstable technology at the initial stage, and also enables Apple to better grasp the opportunities in the market and launch more mature and transcendent products.So Apple should take the same route with ChatGPT-like products - it won't rush out until it's ready. That is, while maintaining a sense of mystery, Apple should eventually launch a full-fledged AI product on its own terms.
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