Inside the secret meeting where Apple revealed the state of its AI research

The technique, not unknown in AI research, uses a larger, more robust neural network to teach another network the decisions it would make in a variety of situations. It's unclear whether Apple's pledge to publish will apply only to machine-learning research, or to other areas of computer-science research, like security. A bragging point for Apple was the efficiency of its algorithms on graphics processing units, or GPUs, the hardware commonly used in servers to speed processing in deep learning. Apple has long been secretive about the research done within its Cupertino, California, labs. By slimming down the neural network, iPhones and iPads can identify faces and locations in photos, or understand changes in a user's heart rate, without needing to rely on remote servers. The technique, not unknown in AI research, uses a larger, more robust neural network to teach another network the decisions it would make in a variety of situations.