Apple Is Now a Member of a Big Artificial Intelligence Initiative

Apple has joined a non-profit group focused on spreading the message that artificial intelligence technologies can be used for societal good. The technology giant is now a member of Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, which debuted in September with an initial cast of participants including Amazon (amzn), Google (goog), Microsoft (msft), IBM (ibm), and Facebook (fb). Although these huge technology companies are competitors, they stand to benefit by joining forces to combat any negative public attitudes about AI. Some critics says that rapid advances in AI can lead to widespread job losses and an invasion of privacy because these companies must continuously gather massive amounts of user data to improve their AI-powered software. Companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft have all been heavily investing in AI technologies like deep learning to improve their services.