Apple Tests Internal Chatbot Ajax Amid Multibillion-Dollar AI Push
Apple is actively developing a large language model framework called Ajax and testing an internal chatbot to rival ChatGPT. The company is also piloting a generative AI tool called Ask to assist AppleCare support advisors.
Apple is developing its own generative AI technology under the leadership of AI chief John Giannandrea, who reports directly to CEO Tim Cook. The company designs a framework called Ajax for large language models and tests an internal chatbot that engineers call "Apple GPT." This internal tool requires special permission to use and helps with product prototyping rather than customer-facing features.
The Ajax framework boasts more than 200 billion parameters and outperforms the prior-generation ChatGPT 3.5, though newer OpenAI models currently remain more powerful. Apple spends millions of dollars daily on conversational AI research and is on track to invest over $4 billion in AI servers in 2024. Despite this massive financial commitment, Apple reportedly lacks a clear strategy for launching a consumer generative AI product.
Beyond internal testing, Apple is experimenting with Siri enhancements, multimodal AI for images and video, and a new tool called Ask for AppleCare support advisors. The Ask feature acts as a ChatGPT-style assistant that generates responses to technical questions using Apple's internal knowledge base to speed up customer support replies. Advisors in the beta program can rate the AI responses as helpful or unhelpful and ask up to five follow-up questions per topic.