It will take Meta many years to monetize Generative AI, but what about Apple?

Quite a few tech companies have invested in AI over the past two years, and there are rumors that Apple will soon bring new AI-based tools to iPhone users in iOS 18.

Quite a few tech companies have invested in AI over the past two years and there are rumors that Apple will soon bring new AI-based tools to iPhone users in iOS 18. However, the cost of running the tools That's pretty high, and Meta just confirmed that it will take the company years to make money from AI.

Investing in Meta AI will take years to recoup

As Meta shared its first fiscal quarter 2024 results on Wednesday, the company's CEO Mark Zuckerberg talked to investors about Meta AI, Meta's new assistant that's now integrated into apps like WhatsApp and Instagram, and have also been added to Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.

Zuckerberg seems quite excited about the future of Meta AI. However, the executive pointed out that it will take years for the company's investments in AI to pay off. He noted that such trials are a 'long-term investment' and 'early signs are very positive' . However, turning a profit from Generative AI 'will take several years' . (according to The Verge)

Meta shares fell more than 10% on Thursday after Zuckerberg confirmed that the company will spend more money on AI. Meta recently announced that it intends to purchase approximately 350,000 Nvidia H100 AI chips by the end of the year. Each of these chips costs from 20,000 to 40,000 USD.

The cost behind Generative AI is actually quite high, as it requires a lot of processing power to train and operate such tools, not to mention server infrastructure. Platforms like OpenAI's ChatGPT charge $20 to allow users to access more advanced tools like GPT-4 and DALL-E. On the other hand, Meta does not rule out monetizing AI through advertising in the future.

What about Apple's Generative AI?

It won't be until June at WWDC 2024 that there will be official information about Apple's Generative AI, but we can speculate based on current rumors.

It will take Meta many years to monetize Generative AI, but what about Apple? Picture 1 It will take Meta many years to monetize Generative AI, but what about Apple? Picture 1

According to multiple sources, Apple has exploited both on-device and server language models. While Bloomberg's Mark Gurman recently reported that Apple's new AI features will be powered entirely by an offline LLM, there are also reports of Apple being in talks with Google to adopt Gemini on the platform. mine.

It is very likely that the company will actually use both offline and online models. Offline models have the disadvantage of not being as powerful and requiring higher-end chips, but they can also reduce server-related costs for Apple.

One possible scenario is that Apple offers AI offline for free to run some basic tasks, while more advanced tools will run online and require a fee – possibly combined with subscriptions. Sign up for iCloud+ or Apple One. This can help the company cover server costs or even deals with third parties like Google.

The company already requires a fee for features like iCloud Private Relay, so charging for 'Siri+' wouldn't be surprising.