> WHY APPLE’S SMARTS ARE IN THE SILICON

Where other tech firms use the cloud for uploading data, throwing huge amounts of processing power at it, and downloading the results, Apple does it on your device. The reason is simple: It protects your privacy.

The problem with processing locally is that we use the same services across multiple devices. Apple’s thought of that, and uses a technique called federated learning to train your devices without invading your privacy. It does this for

Siri, QuickType, and the “Siri found in apps” feature.

With federated learning, your device processes your data locally, so as you talk to Siri on iPhone, your phone refines its model of your voice. When that model is updated, your phone shares the model, but not the audio, with your other devices. So when your iPhone gets to know you better, so does your iPad — but the iPad never hears your original audio.

Apple would rather process personal data using powerful silicon than upload it and process it in the cloud.