HOW IT WORKS
Apple’s AI smart tech
We explain machine learning and Apple’s Neural Engine
YOU WILL LEARN
> How machine learning and the Neural Engine power some of your favourite apps and features
W’re only scratching the surface of the apps and services that machine learning will bring us
More info
You’ve heard of AirPlay, but you may not have heard of AirFace; it’s the neural network structure that inspired Apple’s own face recognition technology. Apple goes into detail about that, speech processing, indoor navigation, and its many other machine learning projects at machinelearning. apple.com.
You’ve heard of a CPU. You’ve heard of a GPU. But have you heard of an NPU? There’s been one in every iPhone since the iPhone 8, and you’ll find it in recent iPads and Macs too. Apple calls it the Neural Engine, and it’s almost certainly powering some of your very favourite things.
Thinking differently
There’s some overlap between the different bits of your Apple device’s processors, but to keep it simple, think of it like this: the CPU takes care of the computing, the GPU handles the graphics (and occasionally gives the CPU a hand) and the Neural Engine is there for machine learning and artificial intelligence.