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You can use their cloud instead of local compute if you'd like: https://security.apple.com/blog/private-cloud-compute/ https://security.apple.com/blog/private-c

You can use their cloud instead of local compute if you'd like: https://security.apple.com/blog/private-cloud-compute/ https://security.apple.com/blog/private-cloud-compute/ Building a privacy aware cloud is a lot harder than you think it is. Apple is going the whole way with remote attestation, hardware root of trust, software BOM, etc. https://security.apple.com/blog/pcc-security-research/ https://security.apple.com/blog/pcc-security-research/

xp84 2y ago
They are, and I actually believe that they’ve done a good job of all that stuff (though suspect that using their weird Mac hardware in the DC can’t possibly be a truly superior option to the NVIDIA hardware the entire rest of the world is using, but let’s assume I’m wrong). But are you suggesting I will be able to flip a switch to use their cloud for all the same AI stuff instead of my battery-powered phone? That would be really welcome news! I haven’t used any of the betas so I know nothing about how “Apple Intelligence” works.
- xvector 2y ago
  > But are you suggesting I will be able to flip a switch to use their cloud for all the same AI stuff instead of my battery-powered phone? Yup! That's the idea. Compute negligible tasks run locally, but for requests that would hog battery and compute (or even be impossible to run on your iPhone), the data center will be used! > though suspect that using their weird Mac hardware in the DC can’t possibly be a truly superior option to the NVIDIA hardware So they are doing this for two reasons: 1. They get remote attestation and hardware root of trust when using their own hardware. No need to load proprietary blobs from Nvidia, introduce a new unvetted third-party supply chain, etc 2. Apple Silicon is actually much more cost effective than Nvidia's GPUs for inference. You can get a 48GB Apple Silicon Mac for like $4k and run large models - it's $40k for similar VRAM from Nvidia. I imagine Apple's costs are much lower than $4k as well.

xp84 2y ago

They are, and I actually believe that they’ve done a good job of all that stuff (though suspect that using their weird Mac hardware in the DC can’t possibly be a truly superior option to the NVIDIA hardware the entire rest of the world is using, but let’s assume I’m wrong). But are you suggesting I will be able to flip a switch to use their cloud for all the same AI stuff instead of my battery-powered phone? That would be really welcome news! I haven’t used any of the betas so I know nothing about how “Apple Intelligence” works.

xvector 2y ago
> But are you suggesting I will be able to flip a switch to use their cloud for all the same AI stuff instead of my battery-powered phone? Yup! That's the idea. Compute negligible tasks run locally, but for requests that would hog battery and compute (or even be impossible to run on your iPhone), the data center will be used! > though suspect that using their weird Mac hardware in the DC can’t possibly be a truly superior option to the NVIDIA hardware So they are doing this for two reasons: 1. They get remote attestation and hardware root of trust when using their own hardware. No need to load proprietary blobs from Nvidia, introduce a new unvetted third-party supply chain, etc 2. Apple Silicon is actually much more cost effective than Nvidia's GPUs for inference. You can get a 48GB Apple Silicon Mac for like $4k and run large models - it's $40k for similar VRAM from Nvidia. I imagine Apple's costs are much lower than $4k as well.