Apple determine to stay ahead of AI race, unveils LLM “Ferret”

Source: AstroAwani

Apple, the tech giant renowned for its sleek gadgets, is making waves in the AI arena with its latest creation – the LLM (Large Language Model) known as “Ferret.” Move over Siri, there’s a new player in town, and it’s here to up Apple’s AI game.

In a world where Artificial Intelligence (AI) is stealing the spotlight, Apple is stepping into the ring with Ferret, a multimodal AI system that promises to take our interaction with technology to a whole new level. Forget just asking Siri what the weather is; imagine Siri being able to understand and analyze images, creating a more immersive and interactive user experience.

So, what’s the scoop on Ferret? In October 2023, Apple collaborated with researchers from Cornell University to develop this open-source LLM. Unlike your typical language model, Ferret does more than process text; it delves into visual content by combining computer vision and natural language processing. This means it can not only recognize objects in images but also understand the relationships between them and initiate meaningful textual discussions.

Ferret boasts versatility, accepting various region inputs such as points, bounding boxes, and free-form shapes. The researchers even threw in a neat trick called GRIT – a dataset designed for extensive instruction tuning. With 1.1 million diverse samples and 95,000 challenging negative examples, Ferret is flexing its muscles to ensure it’s not just another AI model but a robust and resilient one.

Comparing it to OpenAI’s GPT-4V, a similar multimodal model, Ferret claims to outshine in detailed comprehension. While GPT-4V might excel in general question and answering, Ferret aims to provide more accurate and nuanced analyses.

But why does Ferret matter? Picture this – a Siri on steroids seamlessly integrated into your iPhones and MacBooks, ready to assist with a myriad of tasks. Imagine asking Siri not just about the weather but also to recognize and organize your photos or even generate images and texts. With Ferret, Apple is eyeing a future where our devices become more intuitive and efficient in understanding and responding to our needs.

However, before you get too excited, keep in mind that Ferret is still in the development phase. It might be a while before Apple makes an official announcement about this groundbreaking project. Nonetheless, Apple’s decision to license Ferret under a non-commercial open-source license is a noteworthy move. It signals their commitment to collaboration, transparency, and the accelerated development of AI technology.

In a world where Google has unveiled its own conversation AI model, Gemini, Apple is playing catch-up with Ferret. It’s evident that Apple is determined to stay ahead in the AI race, promising users a future filled with more efficient and comprehensive systems to make our day-to-day tasks a breeze. So, keep an eye out for Ferret – your new AI companion might just be around the corner!

Note: This article is a summary of information from TheStar and For the full details, please check the original source.

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