Apple poaches Google AI staff, creates ‘secretive’ laboratory: Report 

Apple has been actively employing AI and machine learning experts from Google to improve its team and compete with other large tech businesses in terms of advanced AI models. According to a recent Financial Times report on April 30, Apple has been on a hiring frenzy for the past year, drawing “dozens” of professionals from Google. Specifically, around 36 AI workers switched from Google to Apple in 2018. 

Apart from its efforts to assemble elite groups of AI specialists, Apple has also purchased two regional AI firms in Zurich, Switzerland. This has prompted the company to construct a “secretive” facility in the region, which it has named “Vision Lab.”

According to an FT story, Apple’s researchers in Zurich have significantly developed cutting-edge AI technology that underpins competitors’ services like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. According to locals, the facility is barely noticeable, and some were unaware that Apple had a presence in the neighborhood.  

Apple’s OpenELM Release Shakes Up the AI Landscape

This occurs at the same time that Apple starts to explore AI development more aggressively. Over the past year, Apple has remained mostly quiet while its Big Tech rivals, including Google, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and OpenAI, have been vying for investments and developing strong huge language models.

Since the beginning of 2024, Apple’s share price has decreased. On the other hand, Microsoft and Google’s second-quarter financial reports showed notable growth in sales and profit, which they attributed to their investments and progress in artificial intelligence technologies.

However, on April 24, Apple released its own Open-source Efficient Language Models (OpenELM), a set of four compact language models based on the Hugging Face library. The models are target for text-based tasks like email authoring.

According to industry insiders, Apple plans to incorporate generative AI into its mobile devices. This would allow AI chatbots and apps to function on the iPhone’s built-in hardware rather than data centers and their separate cloud services.

In February 2024, Apple CEO Tim Cook indicated that generative AI software features would be available on iOS and other platforms later that year.

On April 27, it claimed that Apple and OpenAI in intensive talks about integrating generative AI technologies into iOS. There are references to similar conversations with Google. While nothing is written in stone, these moves indicate Apple’s shift toward AI.