Apple is likely the only tech giant that is struggling in the race for Artificial Intelligence. Unlike Google’s Gemini or ChatGPT from Microsoft-backed Open AI, Apple Intelligence is far limited compared to its peers. This has seemingly forced the company to look elsewhere.
As per a report from The Information, Apple has internally discussed the possibility of buying out Mistral AI or Perplexity in a bid to gain a stronger foothold in AI.
According to the report, Apple Services chief Eddy Cue was in favour of such an acquisition. Cue has a long history of wanting Cupertino to buy out big companies. His previous proposals to acquire Netflix and Tesla were reportedly turned down by Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Apart from Eddy Cue, the proposal to acquire an AI firm has not gone well with other executives at Cupertino. Rather, they believe that Apple could build a better model on its own.
Mistral AI is a French AI startup that focuses on open-weight large language models (LLMs) that could be deployed faster than rivals such as ChatGPT. It was formed in 2023 as a European alternative to American AI giants like OpenAI and Anthropic. Mistral AI has the backing of Nvidia. Its latest funding round valued it at $6 billion.
Perplexity is one of the biggest players in AI. The company, headed by former OpenAI research scientist Aravind Srinivas, is valued at around $18 billion. It has received funding from Amazon and Nvidia. Though, Perplexity has claimed that it is not aware of any offers from Apple.
Apple has a history of avoiding large acquisitions. Taking over an AI firm like Perplexity would cost billions of dollars. Some of the company’s biggest acquisitions in the past were Beats for $3 billion and Intel’s Modem business at $1 billion.
Apple asks Google for help in AI race
In the past week, reports have emerged that Apple is in talks with Google to build a new AI model for Apple Intelligence. This model could be based on Gemini. However, it would run locally on Apple’s servers.
The two tech giants have not addressed such speculation for now. Cupertino even contemplated using models from OpenAI or Anthropic.
Apple’s Siri still uses OpenAI’s ChatGPT model for some queries. Though, the company has reportedly not dismissed the possibility on doubling down on its own AI model.
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