#069 - Apple’s Secret AI Project With Publishers: What You Need to Know, Google Shakes Up Its Ad Sales Team to Integrate AI Better (Expect Layoffs)
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AI BYTE # 1 📢: Apple’s Secret AI Project With Publishers: What You Need to Know.
⭐ Apple is known for its innovation and secrecy, but its latest project may be one of its most ambitious and mysterious yet. The company is reportedly paying out $50 million to various online publishers for training its AI model.
But what is Apple’s AI model for? And why is it using news articles instead of the whole internet?
Apple’s AI Challenge: Running LLMs on Low-Memory iPhones
Apple has been looking for a way to make it possible for LLMs (Large Language Models) or heavy AI systems to run on its low-memory iPhones.
LLMs are powerful AI models that can generate natural language, such as GPT-3 or Grok (by Elon Musk’s X). They are trained on massive amounts of data from the internet, which gives them a broad and diverse knowledge base.
However, LLMs also require a lot of computing power and memory to run, which is not available on most smartphones. Apple wants to overcome this limitation and enable its users to access the benefits of LLMs on their iPhones.
Apple’s AI Solution: Using News Articles from Publishers
To achieve this goal, Apple has devised a novel strategy: using news articles from publishers as the training data for its AI model.
The company has signed multi-year deals with popular publishing platforms including Wired, The New Yorker, The Daily Beast, Vogue, NBC, People, and Entertainment Weekly.
By using news articles, Apple hopes to train its AI model in a more responsible, reliable, and controllable way. News articles are generally more factual, credible, and up-to-date than the rest of the internet, which is often filled with misinformation and propaganda.
News articles also provide legal protection and consent from the publishers, unlike scraping the internet without authorization.
Apple’s AI Mystery: What is it For?
The big question that remains unanswered is: what is Apple’s AI model for? What will it do with the natural language generation capabilities that it will acquire from the news articles?
Apple has not revealed its intentions or plans for its AI model, which has sparked speculation and curiosity among the tech community and the public. Some possible scenarios are:
Apple could use its AI model to generate news summaries, headlines, or captions for its users, similar to what Google does with its Assistant.
It could use its AI model to create personalized content, recommendations, or ads for its users, based on their preferences and interests.
It could use its AI model to enhance its existing services, such as Siri, iMessage, or Apple Music, by adding more natural and conversational features.
It could use its AI model to launch a new service, such as a news aggregator, a social network, or a content platform, that could compete with or complement its rivals.
Whatever Apple’s AI model is for, it is likely to be unveiled in the next iPhone versions running on iOS 18. This could potentially give Apple an edge over its competitors, as it will be the first smartphone manufacturer to support LLMs.
Apple’s AI Impact: How it Will Shape the Future of AI
Apple’s entrance into the AI industry has the potential to shake up the market and the society, as the AI battle is expected to continue to heat up in the coming year (2024). Apple’s AI project could have several implications, such as:
It could set a new standard for AI ethics and privacy, by using news articles as the training data and avoiding the pitfalls of the internet.
It could challenge the dominance of other AI players, such as OpenAI, Google, or X, by offering a different and unique AI model that could appeal to its loyal customers and fans.
It could influence the future of journalism and publishing, by partnering with or competing with the publishers that provide the training data for its AI model.
Apple’s AI project is one of the most intriguing and secretive endeavors in the tech world today.
It could change the way we interact with our smartphones, the internet, and the world. We will have to wait and see what Apple has in store for us.
AI BYTE # 2 📢: Google Shakes Up Its Ad Sales Team to Integrate AI Better (Expect Layoffs)
⭐ Google is undergoing a major reorganization of its ad sales team, which accounts for more than half of its revenue.
The move is aimed at improving the integration of AI into its advertising products and services, as well as streamlining its operations and reducing costs.
According to an internal memo obtained by CNBC, Google is consolidating its ad sales teams under two leaders:
Jerry Dischler, who will oversee Performance Advertising, and Philipp Schindler, who will oversee Brand Advertising.
Performance Advertising refers to ads that are directly tied to measurable outcomes, such as clicks, conversions, or sales.
Brand Advertising refers to ads that are designed to increase awareness, loyalty, or affinity for a brand, such as video or display ads.
The reorganization will also affect the roles and responsibilities of Google’s 30,000-person ad sales team, which includes Account Managers, Engineers, Analysts, and Product Specialists.
Some employees may have to change their focus, learn new skills, or work with different clients or products. Some may even face job cuts, as Google tries to optimize its resources and eliminate redundancies.
The main driver behind the reorganization is Google’s ambition to leverage AI more effectively in its advertising business. Google has been investing heavily in AI research and development, and has applied AI to various aspects of its ad products, such as targeting, bidding, optimization, and measurement.
It claims that AI can help advertisers achieve better results, lower costs, and improve efficiency.
The downside is that AI requires a lot of data, computing power, and technical expertise, which may not be readily available or accessible for some advertisers, especially small and medium-sized businesses.
AI may also disrupt the existing workflows and processes of Google’s ad sales team, and require them to adapt to new tools, systems, and expectations.
Google’s ad sales reorganization could affect the competitive landscape, as Google faces increasing pressure from rivals such as Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft, who are also investing in AI and offering their own ad products and services.
