Arrogant Apple finally figured out these three reasons and decided to join the AI ​​Alliance

Last September, IBM, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), Amazon and Facebook formed an AI Alliance with the slogan of "collaborating in artificial intelligence to benefit humanity and society". The latest news shows that Apple has decided to join this alliance and "fight side by side" with other companies.

1. The threat of AI alliance to Apple's future is self-evident

In fact, with the rapid development of AI technology in recent years, we have also seen many problems encountered by this technology in the real world. For example, Google's image scanning technology sometimes mistakes black people for gorillas, and an algorithm used to predict crime rates is considered to have serious racial discrimination tendencies. In addition, as AI technology becomes more powerful, people have also become concerned about the idea that "AI will eventually rule the world."

The goal of the AI ​​Alliance is to learn from each other and study the development of artificial intelligence, and the alliance also promised that they would not become a lobbying organization controlled by the government. In order to achieve its goals, members of the AI ​​Alliance will often discuss the progress of artificial intelligence together, and teams will continue to compete in order to launch the best products and services.

The alliance will use a standard open license to publish research topics including ethics, inclusion and privacy. In response, companies such as Microsoft have established artificial intelligence ethics advisory committees. However, the new AI alliance will not overturn the existing achievements of each company, but will provide a forum to share valuable opinions.

Although the impact of the establishment of this AI alliance on the industry has not yet been concretely revealed, the threat of this organization to start-ups is self-evident. Take the huge amount of data that AI technology requires, for example. The amount and scope of data that companies such as Google and Facebook have on hand far exceeds that of any start-up. For Apple, this will also be a potential threat that cannot be ignored.

2. In order to attract top talents, AI technology openness has become a trend

Since its inception, the AI ​​Alliance has hoped to expand the number of members and allow more companies to participate. Technology companies engaged in artificial intelligence research, such as Apple, Intel, Baidu and Twitter, have not joined the organization. At that time, Apple, as the most important technology giant, did not choose to join the alliance.

Apple has always been accustomed to developing new technologies "behind closed doors". Now it has gradually built a complete AI R&D team and has successively acquired several small companies related to artificial intelligence technology. Of course, this may be because Apple is a relatively special company. It has its own ecosystem. From suppliers to users, Apple can rely on its own strength to maintain operations. Apple took the lead in launching Siri personal assistant in 2011, which can be regarded as gaining an advantage in the consumer AI industry.

However, Apple's strict confidentiality about its technology research direction is limiting its recruitment of top AI talent. This is because leading researchers in this field like to publish their latest research results in papers, and Apple has always been reluctant to publish them publicly. However, in recent years, Apple has also been slowly changing in this regard. For example, Russ Salakhutdinov, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who was recently hired by Apple, published his first AI paper.

Over the years, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook have attracted a lot of AI talents, but Apple always seems to be unable to attract top talents. Perhaps Apple chose to join the AI ​​Alliance because it is aware of the talent shortage problem.

3. AI is still in its infancy, and the benefits of win-win far outweigh the competition

Apple is already at a disadvantage in the AI ​​race because it is not part of the alliance, without direct access to the vast amounts of valuable data that a social network or search engine can easily access. As a result, its Siri voice assistant has lagged behind in smart homes, and Apple's attempts to develop self-driving software have suffered setbacks and diversions.

Artificial intelligence will be one of the main battlefields for technology companies to compete. Whether the alliance can promote the wider acceptance of artificial intelligence is still unknown. At present, artificial intelligence has no clear application direction, and the research of artificial intelligence by various giants is basically in the experimental stage. No one knows where the breakthrough will be in the future, so even the technology giants who lead this change in the alliance have their own interests. Therefore, there is no essential conflict of interest at present.

Apple has the confidence to choose not to form an alliance, but it may not be a good thing for its own development. It cannot share the latest achievements of other technology giants, which will make Apple fall into the embarrassment of developing behind closed doors. With the development of artificial intelligence and the gradual clarification of its application areas, the competition will be clear and fierce, but for Apple now, joining may be the best choice.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.