Apple has found a startup that reduces the size of AI models. This could help it improve Siri

Apple is in talks with PrismML, a small Silicon Valley company that claims it can scale down powerful artificial intelligence models enough for them to run directly on the iPhone. Babak Hassibi, CEO of the startup PrismML, revealed this in an interview with CNBC.

If the startup’s claims are confirmed by actual testing, the company’s technology could change the demand for memory and computing power in data centers, the TV channel notes, emphasizing, however, that, according to analysts, a large number of chips will still be needed to meet the demands of AI.

PrismML uses an open-source language model from Alibaba called Qwen — According to the company’s CEO, the startup has managed to reduce the model’s size from approximately 54 GB to less than 4 GB, making it possible to run all 27 billion of Qwen’s parameters on an iPhone 15 or newer models.

Apple and other companies are currently evaluating the startup’s technology by measuring its speed, energy efficiency, and performance on devices, Hassibi said: “They are indeed looking into our technology right now,” he emphasized, adding that the talks are in a very early stage and their outcome is still unclear.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Apple officially announced the development of PrismML on July 14—the release came a day after Apple launched the public beta testing of iOS 27, giving iPhone owners their first broad access to the long-awaited Siri update, according to CNBC. Apple aims to make Siri more competitive with assistants from OpenAI and Anthropic, while retaining the ability to process data using AI on the device itself.

However, powerful AI models typically require a lot of memory and computing power to run on a smartphone, the TV channel explains. The ability to run them directly on the device would allow Apple to reduce latency associated with accessing remote servers, cut cloud computing costs, and strengthen the company’s case for keeping user data private, explains CNBC. Carolina Milanesi, chief analyst at Creative Strategies, noted that such—more compact AI models—could allow Apple to bring more resource-intensive features to the iPhone—for example, video generation or health-tracking tools that handle sensitive personal data.

"The more features a device has, the better," she said.

The Information had previously reported on PrismML technology as a breakthrough, citing representatives of the startup: PrismML described its development as “the largest AI model ever launched on an iPhone.” In an interview with CNBC, Hassibi explained that the technology is based on a radical simplification of data storage within the AI model: each value is reduced from 16 bits to one of three possible values.

This article is being updated

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor