While 2023 was talking about giants such as Google, Microsoft and OpenAI in the world of artificial intelligence, Apple seemed to remain silent. But in reality, as of October 2023, Apple announced ‘Ferret’, the open source large language model it developed, with a big surprise. Ferret stands out as a project developed jointly by Apple engineers and Columbia University researchers.
Ferret’s main goal is not to meet the demands of end users. On the contrary, this broad language model was originally designed for use by researchers. The reason behind this strategy is quite logical; Since Apple needs large amounts of data to train its large language model, with this method researchers will be able to leverage its own data libraries. This allows Apple to push the boundaries in artificial intelligence without having to allocate additional resources or violate user privacy.
The quiet release of Ferret suggests the possibility that this large language model could be integrated into Apple products in the future. Its impressive capabilities for visual recognition and information presentation increase Ferret’s potential for use, especially on devices such as iPhones and Macs.