Apple has been using its Neural Engine Neural Processing Unit in all Apple processors for many years, mainly for local machine learning tasks like enhancing photos. At their recent Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced they will expand the use of these Neural Engines to support advanced language models and generative AI on their main products. This move follows Apple’s typical approach of laying groundwork early and then releasing new features when they meet Apple’s high standards for user experience and address customer needs.
During the conference, after updates to Apple’s operating systems (including a new calculator for iPad), CEO Tim Cook introduced Apple Intelligence as their solution to generative AI. This technology will operate directly on Apple devices but will also include an option for more complex tasks via Apple Cloud.
Users can also choose to integrate with third-party AI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT for added functionality, balancing privacy with additional capabilities, similar to offerings from Microsoft and Google.
Cook emphasized that Apple aimed to create an AI that is powerful, easy to use, personalized as a true assistant, and seamlessly integrated into the Apple ecosystem with strong privacy protections from the start. He referred to this as Apple Intelligence or personal intelligence. Apple plans to launch Apple Intelligence with iOS 18, iPad OS 18, and MacOS “Sequoia” in the fall.
Not every Apple product can use Apple Intelligence. Only Mac and iPad models with M-series processors (from M1 onward) and last year’s iPhone 15 Pro with the A17Pro chip will support it. These devices need to meet specific performance requirements, including a certain level of TOPs (tera operations per second) for their Neural Engine in Apple silicon.
They also require at least 8GB of DRAM to handle the advanced generative AI models. For example, the iPhone 14 Pro with the A16 Bionic chip has 6GB of DRAM but a 17 TOPS neural engine, which is more powerful than the M1 and M2 processors in terms of neural processing capability.
Apple has been using the Neural Engine NPU in its processors for many generations of Apple silicon. This allows Apple to run Apple Intelligence on older systems. In contrast, Microsoft requires new AI PC silicon to run Copilot+ features on PCs. This difference could give Apple a big advantage because it can introduce Apple Intelligence to a wider range of devices that are already in use. Apple doesn’t need to create a completely new ecosystem or user base, unlike Microsoft’s approach. In fact, Apple will support Apple Intelligence on devices as far back as the 2020 models of MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, which used the M1 processor.
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