Apple Joins AI Competition... Stock Hits Record High on 'Apple GPT' Launch

Developing In-House AI Model... "Major Announcement Next Year"

Apple is reportedly developing its own artificial intelligence (AI) model. After being cautious about AI development until now, news that Apple is joining the AI boom sparked by ChatGPT caused Apple’s stock price to soar to an all-time high during intraday trading. Apple’s entry into the AI market is expected to intensify the AI technology competition among global big tech companies.

Tim Cook Apple CEO

On the 19th (local time), Bloomberg News cited sources reporting that Apple has established an internal system to develop its own large language model (LLM) for AI.

Apple has internally formed a development team called Ajax and created a chatbot service named "Apple GPT." Multiple teams within Apple are reportedly collaborating on the AI development project, including work to address privacy issues.

Bloomberg stated, "The AI project has become a key focus for Apple in recent months," and added, "Apple aims to make a significant announcement related to AI next year."

Apple’s increased investment in AI technology development, despite previously being passive, is interpreted as a response to a sense of urgency caused by big tech companies such as Microsoft (MS), Google, and Meta entering the technology development race one after another.

Currently, Microsoft leads the generative AI market, with Google, Amazon, and Meta closely following. Microsoft has had a strategic partnership with OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, since 2019. Just the day before, Microsoft announced a collaboration with Meta to offer Meta’s latest LLM as a cloud service. Google has unveiled Bard, a generative AI, and generative AI features in Google Workspace. Meanwhile, Apple has applied AI services to Siri and Apple Watch but is considered a latecomer in the generative AI market.

Amid this, Apple CEO Tim Cook attracted attention last month in an interview with the media by stating, "I use ChatGPT. Apple is also closely examining it." This was interpreted as a more open stance on AI compared to his conference call a month earlier. In the May conference call, Cook said, "We plan to integrate more AI technology into Apple products, but this will be based on very cautious standards," adding, "There are many problems that AI needs to solve."

Foreign media interpreted Apple’s AI model development as a sign that the company is seriously taking recent technological advancements and competitive dynamics into account, signaling that AI technology will be applied to Apple products in the future.

Following the news of Apple’s entry into AI development, the stock price reached an intraday record high of $198.23, up 2.3% during the day.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.