by Jason Snell

July 19, 2023 1:33 PM PT

Bloomberg: No, really, Apple’s working on language AI

Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reports that Apple is working on large-language model AI technology:

Apple Inc. is quietly working on artificial intelligence tools… but the company has yet to devise a clear strategy for releasing the technology to consumers.

The iPhone maker has built its own framework to create large language models — the AI-based systems at the heart of new offerings like ChatGPT and Google’s Bard — according to people with knowledge of the efforts. With that foundation, known as “Ajax,” Apple also has created a chatbot service that some engineers call “Apple GPT.”

In recent months, the AI push has become a major effort for Apple, with several teams collaborating on the project, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. The work includes trying to address potential privacy concerns related to the technology.

I have no idea if Apple intentionally leaks things to Gurman—his sources are impeccable and much of what he reports is definitely not stuff Apple wants to be reported—but this sort of story serves the company’s purposes, in the we’re-working-on-it-quit-bugging-us way.

Still, there’s a whole lot of vacant space here. It’s a project, but they have no strategy. They’re working on an ugly web-based tool not meant for public consumption, and the Apple chatbot is not allowed to write code that would ever ship to customers. It’s all a bit nebulous:

Apple is still trying to determine the consumer angle for generative AI… While the company doesn’t yet have a concrete plan, people familiar with the work believe Apple is aiming to make a significant AI-related announcement next year.

Sure, let’s target next year for… the thing you don’t have a “strategy” or “consumer angle” or “concrete plan” for? I get it, Apple’s scrambling so that it doesn’t get left behind when it comes to a hot technology, but how do you pick an announcement date for a product that hasn’t yet been fully conceived?

—Linked by Jason Snell

by Dan Moren

July 19, 2023 7:36 AM PT

Users are turning around on Apple Maps

Writing at the Wall Street Journal, Ann-Marie Alcántara reports that the tide is turning on Apple Maps (Apple News link):

The biggest competitive advantage Apple Maps has over Google is its deeper integration in the iPhone. Any iOS service that requires directions—from finding restaurants in Yelp to locating AirTags in Find My—uses Apple Maps. Users can’t change that.

“People are inherently lazy and form habits around default options,” says Peter Ramsey, a user-experience consultant who has written about design differences between Apple and Google Maps. “For a long time Apple Maps was so bad that people proactively switched to Google Maps, but as the experience of Apple Maps improved, there was less incentive to make that default-breaking action.”

I’ve used Apple Maps more and more in recent years, and in my opinion, though it’s not perfect, it’s often on par with Google Maps in terms of how often I get bad directions. There are still some improvements to be made (traffic indications are good, for example, but not as good as Google Maps, and cycling directions still don’t see the bike path near my house), but I’m generally pretty happy with it, and in some cases—such as transit maps—I vastly prefer it.

This year’s platform updates bring a decent number of Maps improvements, including offline maps, that continue to make it a worthy competitor to Google Maps. After more than a decade of cheap shots, it does feel a bit like Apple Maps is still being judged for its failures on launch, rather than the product it is today.

—Linked by Dan Moren

by Jason Snell

July 19, 2023 5:00 AM PT

Unity adds visionOS beta program

Following up on its appearance in the WWDC keynote, 3D authoring platform Unity announced on Wednesday that it is launching a beta program for visionOS development. The company says it’s been working closely with Apple to provide developers with access to the Unity editor and Unity’s PolySpatial technology, all toward the goal of building visionOS apps using Unity’s 3D tools.

The company’s announcement includes an endorsement from Triband, the developer of “What the Golf?” and “What the Car.” Triband CEO Peter Bruun says that the company is already working on a visionOS version of its “What the Golf?” game.

Though developers have had access to Apple’s visionOS tools for a little while now, this new set of tools will give potential visionOS developer—especially game developers—a chance to build much richer experiences.

The next question is, when will Apple begin letting developers test stuff on real hardware?

—Linked by Jason Snell