Released Stable Diffusion exclusively for Apple

Image generated with the prompt ‘High quality picture of an astronaut riding a horse/dragon in space’ using a stable diffusion optimization model running on a device with an Apple chip. (Photo Credit: Apple)

Apple has unveiled an artificial intelligence (AI) image generator optimized for running on Apple chips, called Stable Diffusion (SD). It is a solution that can reduce SD image generation time in Apple neural network engine hardware.

Arstechnica reported on the 3rd (local time) that Apple released ‘Stable Diffusion’, an open-source AI image synthesis model that generates new images by inputting text.

SD, which Apple unveiled this time, is the fastest to create images on Nvidia’s high-end GPU when running locally on a Windows or Linux PC. It takes about 8.7 seconds to generate a 512×512 image on the RTX 3060.

By comparison, it took about 69.8 seconds to create a 512×512 image using unoptimized SD on the M1 Mac Mini.

Apple’s new SD optimization can generate a 512×512 50-step image on the M1 chip in 35 seconds, according to Apple’s benchmark on Github. The M2 does the job in 23 seconds, and Apple’s most powerful chip, the M1 Ultra, can do the same in just 9 seconds. This is a dramatic improvement that cuts creation time by almost half.

Apple’s SD Optimized Model is a Python package that converts SD models from PyTorch to Apple’s framework Core ML and can be deployed on macOS 13.1 and iOS 16.2 or later Macs, iPads, and iPhones with Apple chips. Optimization works on SD 1.4, 1.5 and the new 2.0.

Apple also cites privacy protection and avoiding cloud computing costs as advantages of running AI-generated models locally on a Mac or Apple device.

“All data the user provides as input to the model remains on the user’s device, protecting end-user privacy,” Apple said. “After the initial download, users do not need an internet connection to use the model and this Deploying models locally allows developers to reduce or eliminate server-related costs.”

Chan Park, [email protected]

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