Apple quietly builds tool that can compete with ChatGPT

When Apple introduced its artificial intelligence (AI) platform last year, it made it clear that there wouldn't be a homegrown chatbot.

Instead, the company partnered with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into its Siri virtual assistant, giving users access to “ world knowledge” without having to build the product themselves. But that direction has changed.

According to Bloomberg news agency, Apple has quietly established a new group called Answers, Knowledge and Information (AKI).

The team is reportedly exploring internal AI services with the goal of creating a new search experience similar to ChatGPT.

While still in its early stages, the team is building an “answer engine” – a system that can scrape data from the web to answer general knowledge questions.

The team is also considering a standalone app along with a new back-end infrastructure to support search capabilities in future versions of Siri, Spotlight (the search feature on Apple devices like iPhones, iPads, and Macs), and the Safari browser.

Apple also recently started posting jobs for this group, looking for candidates with experience in search algorithms and search engine development.

While a finished product may be a long way off, Apple's direction is now clear: develop an in-house version of ChatGPT-style search.

Previously, Apple’s top software and marketing executives have dismissed the need for a chatbot, arguing that consumer interest is limited. They also countered the notion that the lack of such an element shows Apple is lagging behind in AI.

Internally, some company executives have even expressed skepticism about tools like ChatGPT. But the reality is that products like ChatGPT serve hundreds of millions of people around the world for everything from solving math problems to creating spreadsheets to finding information.

Currently, the Apple Intelligence platform does not provide this capability, focusing only on summarizing notifications, rewriting text, or creating Genmoji images. In the near future, the platform will also be able to translate messages and calls.

But Apple Intelligence doesn't have the AI-powered, conversational search features found on ChatGPT or Google's Gemini.

Meanwhile, Siri continues to disappoint with inconsistent responses to questions. The assistant can still handle some basic queries, but it often has to pass other requests to ChatGPT or push users back to a generic Google search page.

This puts Apple in a vulnerable position. The company has never developed its own search engine—in part because Google Search is better, but also because Alphabet pays Apple about $20 billion a year to remain the default on its devices.

But the deal is at risk of being broken by the US Justice Department , which could cost Apple billions of dollars a year.

Apple itself has acknowledged the growth of its services business tied to this deal. At the same time, the online search business is changing rapidly thanks to AI.

Users are turning to tools like ChatGPT in ways that go beyond traditional queries. Even Apple’s head of services, Eddy Cue, has admitted that AI-powered search is the future.

He also confirmed that Apple is exploring new partnerships to modernize the search experience across its devices.

In the AI race, being late may be an advantage, but standing still is not an option. With this move, Apple is showing that it is ready to act on its own instead of relying solely on partners as its previous strategy./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/apple-am-tham-xay-dung-cong-cu-co-the-canh-tranh-voi-chatgpt-post1053589.vnp