Apple MLX: New AI Framework, Model Released as Open Source, Meant to Run on M-Series, Silicon Chips

In a surprising turn of events, another Big Tech company released its first take on everything AI, with Apple's MLX now available as open source, centering on its new framework and model. There were only several claims regarding Apple's AI development, and the company did not join Big Tech's massive dive into the world of AI, but now, its first contender is here.

This first look into Apple's AI model shows how it can run efficiently on Apple's M-series and other Silicon chips, speculated for the MacBooks.

Apple MLX: New AI Framework, Model Now Released

Apple and its engineers released the MLX to platforms like GitHub, and this is the company's first AI framework and model that brings its step towards the machine learning world. The Apple research team shared this with the world, showing their initial take on creating a framework meant for developers, with it having the power to train AI models.

MLX offers various features for devs, and first off, Apple said that it is a framework based on the likes of ArrayFire, Jax, and PyTorch, meant to run efficiently on Apple Silicon chips. On the other hand, it offers the MLX data as a deep learning model library.

The Cupertino giant claims that the difference that MLX has with the mentioned frameworks above is its unified memory model.

The arrays of the MLX live in shared memory, and this means that these "can be performed on any of the supported device types without performing data copies," said Apple. "Currently supported device types are the CPU and GPU."

MLX is Open Source, Meant for M-series, Silicon

The Verge noted that Apple's MLX was released as open source, with its focus centering on machine learning and not like the famed generative AI apps from the likes of Google and Microsoft. It was also speculated by the report that Apple may use this to create generative AI apps for the MacBooks, but that is yet to be discussed in the future.

Apple's Dive into the Massive World of AI

Amidst the many companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta, and more massive releases that bring AI tools and technologies to the world, Apple is yet to reveal something breathtaking in this industry. However, there have been many talks regarding Apple's AI developments already, including the reports about a ChatGPT-style tech, revealed behind closed doors.

To add more gravity to the claims, Apple CEO Tim Cook previously addressed the AI developments over at Cupertino and how it will play out in the company's future amidst its competitors' creations. Here, he said that Apple is already considering different approaches for its many developments, but the goal for now is to be cautious with the way they approach it.

Not much was revealed from Apple about its foray into the world of AI, especially with its more-than-a-decade deployment of Siri, its AI assistant found on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, HomePod, Apple TV, and more. While different AI apps and platforms are accessible on its devices, the new MLX gives an Apple-coded development, serving as the foundation of its future AI ventures.