Apple is said to be making significant strides in AI with a recent surge in generative AI-related job postings. As first spotted by TechCrunch, the Cupertino tech giant has added a total of 28 new AI-focused positions in just the first three weeks of May.

According to the job openings, Apple is looking for senior engineers, research scientists, and special project managers, with many of the openings specifically mentioning the term “generative AI.” These hires could indicate Apple’s desire to expand its team of experts in the latest technology trend. The company aims to advance its capabilities and develop innovative AI systems by hiring talented individuals in this field.

Apple is looking to hire for various teams, including Integrated System Experience, Input Experience NLP, Machine Learning R&D, and the Technology Development Group. These job openings are spread across locations in San Diego, the Bay Area, and Seattle. Interestingly, some roles are dedicated to visual generative AI applications, underscoring the company’s interest in visual generative modeling.

Per Apple’s description, successful candidates will work on “visual generative modeling to power applications across computation photography, image and video editing, 3D shape, and motion reconstruction, avatar generation, and much more.”

Apple is heavily rumored to be working on major generative AI enhancements for Siri as the virtual assistant continues to lag behind competitors such as Google Assistant and ChatGPT. Multiple reports by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times state that Apple is actively researching Large Language Models (LLMs) that could one day be used to power Siri. 

At Apple’s headquarters last month, the company held its annual A.I. summit, an internal event for employees to learn about its large language model and other A.I. tools, two people who were briefed on the program said. Many engineers, including members of the Siri team, have been testing language-generating concepts every week, the people said.

The New York Times

Apple CEO Tim Cook continues to drum up the company’s interest in generative AI, describing the technology as “very interesting” before quickly warning that “it’s very important to be deliberative and thoughtful in how you approach these things.”

Apple could showcase a sliver of its generative AI efforts at WWDC in two weeks. However, a stacked keynote and lack of meaningful progress could see limited on-stage time for new AI-powered features. The closest the company has come to generative AI is the new Personal Voice accessibility feature, allowing users to generate a synthetic voice that mimics them in just 15 minutes.