- According to one report, Microsoft's GitHub Copilot is partly responsible for Apple's increased focus on generative AI.
- According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering became a “convert” after trying it.
- The New York Times previously reported that Apple executives were also impressed with ChatGPT and subsequently wanted to upgrade Siri.
A new report claims that Apple executives have been motivated to focus on generative AI at their division after using such tools at a competitor.
Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, “switched” over the Christmas holidays in 2022 after using GitHub Copilot, an AI code completion tool, according to a Wall Street Journal article published Wednesday. The report cited a person with knowledge of Federighi's experience. GitHub was acquired by Microsoft in 2018 for $7.5 billion.
Mr. Federighi then asked software engineering employees to figure out how to integrate generative AI into products, former engineers and executives told The Wall Street Journal.
In other words, Apple's turn to AI may be at least partially thanks to Microsoft's GitHub. This isn't the first time that a competitor's AI-generated tools have reportedly inspired Apple to try its own thing.
The New York Times reported last month, citing two people familiar with the matter, that Federighi and John Giannandrea, Apple's senior vice president of machine learning and AI strategy, decided that an upgrade to Siri was necessary after using ChatGPT for a few weeks.
The New York Times reported, citing three sources familiar with the company's work, that Apple hopes generative AI will help Siri become better at existing tasks and also enable it to take on new ones, like text summarization and chat.
Apple is expected to make some sort of AI-related announcement at its annual developers conference, WWDC, on Monday.
Apple did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
