iOS 18 AI features coming with ironclad privacy as Apple develops in-house Ajax LLM

Apple will be entering the era of artificial intelligence with its typical strong emphasis on iPhone and iPad security, it seems. Its laser-sharp focus on user privacy is one of the reasons behind the iPhone’s unprecedented success story, as people love what iOS is selling in terms of security guarantees.

On-device processing of data is what raised Apple’s Touch ID and Face ID biometry profile with privacy-sensitive applications when they first launched, and Apple will continue the sandboxing trend with its AI features as well.

Apple Ajax LLM to run on-device

Apparently, Apple will be launching a large language model of its own in time for iOS 18. Codenamed as Ajax, its aim will be to provide processing of data for the most popular and basic iOS 18 AI features on the iPhone itself, rather than send it to a server in the proverbial cloud, no matter how secure that transfer might be.

This could lead to Apple’s own chatbot service to enhance default apps like Messages, Siri, Spotlight Search, or even Safari, with the text-based back and forth generated entirely on the iPhone.

While these would still be processed on the server side, Apple would give the utmost privacy and security guarantees to its own Ajax LLM powered by the iPhone’s renowned AI chipset prowess.