Apple just pulled the plug on Project Titan, its decadelong autonomous car initiative, moving most of the team over to generative AI. After years of shifting strategies, Wall Street welcomed the exit as a smart pivot back to software and disciplined spending.
Apple is reportedly expanding internal testing of new generative AI features for Xcode, aiming to release a GitHub Copilot rival to third-party developers later this year. The company is also exploring chatbot-like search upgrades for Spotlight across iOS and macOS to handle complex app actions. After staying relatively quiet in the AI arms race, Apple looks ready to finally show its hand at WWDC.
Apple just teamed up with UCSB researchers to release MGIE, an open-source model that lets you edit photos by simply typing out what you want. Instead of tweaking sliders, you can give prompt-based commands like "make it more healthy" to add veggies to a pizza, or ask it to brighten specific dark spots. It is already available on GitHub and Hugging Face Spaces.
Adobe just launched a purpose-built Firefly app for the Apple Vision Pro, bringing its generative AI directly into spatial computing. Wearers can generate four images from a prompt and pull them straight into their physical room to hang on walls like posters. Access is free until March, with 360-degree panoramas on the roadmap.
Tim Cook just confirmed that Apple is putting “tremendous time and effort” into generative AI, with features officially rolling out to customers later this year. While Cook refused to spill specifics on the earnings call, the rare preview aligns with reports that iOS 18 could be a massive update. Apple rarely tips its hand early, signaling it's ready to counter AI moves from Google and Samsung.
Apple just announced that over 600 native apps and games built specifically for the Apple Vision Pro will be available on day one. Alongside more than a million compatible iOS and iPadOS apps, the lineup spans spatial sports viewing, 3D productivity canvases, and immersive entertainment.
Apple is rolling out automated transcripts across Apple Podcasts in the iOS 17.4 beta, powered by its machine learning models. Beta testers report that nearly all shows in Apple's network now display full text. Episodes added via external URLs are currently excluded, with a general release expected in March.
Security firm Trail of Bits just disclosed a vulnerability dubbed LeftoverLocals impacting GPUs from Apple, AMD, and Qualcomm, allowing attackers to siphon up to 180 megabytes of data directly from local GPU memory. The flaw exposes user queries and model weights from locally run LLMs. Apple patched it on M3 and A17 chips, but millions of older devices remain vulnerable.
OpenAI is offering news publishers between $1 million and $5 million a year to license copyrighted articles for training its models, according to The Information. That falls short of Apple's reported multiyear offers topping $50 million. With web scrapers getting blocked and copyright lawsuits piling up, paying publishers directly is fast becoming the industry's cost of doing business.
Apple is reportedly preparing to preview a major generative AI upgrade for Siri at WWDC. Powered by its in-house Ajax model, the revamped assistant is expected to handle natural conversations, sync context across devices, and connect to third-party services via APIs, with select capabilities potentially tied to paid subscriptions.
Apple and Cornell researchers quietly open-sourced Ferret, an MLLM that can analyze and answer queries about any freeform region inside an image. Users can highlight specific elements to trigger detailed contextual responses. It marks a rare open-source push from the usually secretive tech giant, though it is currently restricted to non-commercial research.
Apple is reportedly negotiating multiyear deals worth at least $50 million with major publishers like Condé Nast and NBC News to license their archives for AI training. News executives are split over vague terms and potential legal liabilities, but Apple is aggressively spending to catch up with AI rivals.
Apple just detailed how it plans to fit heavy AI models onto everyday devices without blowing past hardware limits. In a paper titled 'LLM in a flash', researchers store parameters on flash memory and stream them to DRAM on demand, running models twice the size of available RAM while speeding up GPU inference by up to 25x. Why it matters: It lays the technical groundwork for reliable on-device generative AI.
Apple just quietly dropped MLX and MLX Data, a new machine learning framework tailored specifically for Apple Silicon. Inspired by PyTorch and Jax, it takes advantage of unified memory so CPUs and GPUs can process tasks without moving data, packing enough punch to train and run models like Llama and Stable Diffusion locally. Why it matters: Apple is finally giving developers the tools to turn MacBooks into capable generative AI workstations.
Apple just hosted its late-night "Scary Fast" showcase to reveal its next-generation M3 family of silicon. The event brought major GPU upgrades to refreshed 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros powered by M3 Pro and Max, alongside an overdue refresh for the 24-inch iMac.
Apple CEO Tim Cook just confirmed that the company is actively researching ChatGPT-style generative AI and plans to increase AI hiring in the UK. Cook pointed out that AI is already quietly powering features like Apple Watch fall detection and iPhone predictive text. While Apple has stayed noticeably restrained during the chatbot boom, Cook's remarks confirm Cupertino is definitely building its countermove.
Apple just released macOS Sonoma as a free software update for Mac users worldwide. Beyond interactive desktop widgets and video conferencing overlays, the update brings an on-device Transformer language model to overhaul autocorrect and inline sentence predictions. It basically means speech dictation and typing on Mac get a smart, private machine learning boost directly on silicon.
Apple just rolled out the iPhone 15 powered by the A17 Pro chip, intentionally sidestepping the generative AI hype. Instead of buzzy chatbots or AI image editors, Apple baked machine learning into everyday friction points—voice isolation for calls, automatic portrait depth capture, and synthetic voices for speech loss. Why it matters: Apple bets that invisible, reliable utility wins users faster than conversational parlor tricks.
Apple CEO Tim Cook just pushed back on concerns that the company is missing the AI boom, insisting that AI and machine learning are already "virtually embedded in every product" Apple builds. Cook revealed Apple has been researching generative AI for years, pointing to rising R&D spending as direct proof of its massive investment. Why it matters: While rivals rush out flashy chatbots, Apple is signaling that its AI play is quietly woven straight into the devices people already use every day.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek revealed that the streaming giant plans to expand generative AI far beyond its DJ feature. The company is exploring AI tools to summarize podcasts and generate personalized audio ads at scale, allowing advertisers to run thousands of tailored audio spots cheaply. A recently published patent also shows Spotify is developing emotional text-to-speech tech that can whisper, shout, and convey sarcasm.
