Did you know that your iPhone can recognize your face in the dark? And you definitely know that it will suggest (or better guess) the next word as you type. No, it’s not magic, it’s an advanced technology built into small chips from Apple silicon, and the engine that drives them is one of the most powerful pieces of technology: Apple’s Neural Engine.
Although the first suggestion that may come to your mind is a robust data center somewhere in the desert that generates information and performs these tasks, this “magic” actually happens on a tiny chip running nonstop in the palm of your hand.
On-Device AI: Is Silicon Brain On a Par with Human Brain?
Today, we hear a lot about the “cloud” as the brain behind artificial intelligence. However, it’s not all about massive servers thousands of miles away that do the heavy lifting for us. Apple has been working quietly for several years to bring that power to our pockets and screens.
Silicon brain, as it’s often called, is a piece of technology that tries to mimic the human brain. Apple has developed powerful chips and embedded the Neural Engine and Machine Learning Accelerators to make their iPhones and computers ideal for machine learning. The idea was to accelerate machine learning that would not rely on the cloud, but would perform tasks directly from devices.
Apple decided to switch from Intel chips to its more advanced versions. The company launched its first Apple Silicon Mac in 2020, and it completed this transition three years later with the introduction of the first Apple Silicon Mac Pro. Today, the company is using the third generation of their custom M-series chips, which make all their devices more powerful and more efficient, saving energy.
The ever-evolving technology is our reality today, so advanced tech and AI-powered devices are not just reserved for the big guns in the industry. We also live in a world full of digital platforms that compete for our attention by constantly improving the technology they use to offer us better, faster and smarter customer journeys. Just check out CSGRoll to learn more about how interactive gaming platforms also use principles of probability and prediction to create dynamic and personalized experiences.
The Language of Probability and Privacy
The first generation of the Apple Neural Engine (ANE) was released in 2017 as part of the A11 chip in the iPhone X. Some of the tasks powered by this engine were early features like Siri and Face ID. Since then, things have changed dramatically. One of the latest chips from Apple is the M5, created to further improve the AI performance with a next-generation GPU, a more powerful CPU, and a much faster Neural Engine.
We’ve mentioned probability because it’s at the core of Apple’s Neural Engine. Although we speak about artificial intelligence, in this case, it doesn’t operate according to some hard rules, but according to probability. It means that instead of working like a calculator that gives the same result every time you give inputs, the
Neural Engine is trained to predict outcomes based on probability. So, when you’re texting with friends, it will constantly suggest the next word based on the context and patterns it has learned so far.
What’s more, everything happens in real-time, without Wi-Fi, directly on the device. This means ANE doesn’t store any data in the cloud because it processes it locally, which guarantees privacy.
The future is definitely in your pocket. So, remember, there’s no magic involved when your iPhone recognizes your favorite cake or flower from the gallery. It’s a silicon brain trained to calculate the odds in the palm of your hand.
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