Apple announced its long-awaited AI strategy on Monday, incorporating “Apple Intelligence” into Siri and adding OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT to its devices yesterday at WWDC 2024
During the nearly two-hour presentation at Apple’s annual developer conference, executives, including CEO Tim Cook, emphasized the potential of voice assistant Siri to interact with third-party applications, emails, calendars, and messaging.
Siri will be able to compose emails and adjust the tone of voice to accommodate the situation.
The iPhone manufacturer, recognized for emphasizing user safety, also intends to distinguish itself from its competitors,
Microsoft and Google, prioritize privacy as a fundamental aspect of its features.
However, Wall Street was unenthusiastic about the event, as it searched for additional impressive AI capabilities and assurance that would position Apple in a favorable position to compete with Microsoft, the market leader in AI. Apple shares experienced a nearly 2% decline at the close.
Apple’s stock, which has been underperforming other major technology companies this year, experienced a 13% increase in the preceding month.
Dipanjan Chatterjee, an analyst at Forrester, stated, “There is nothing in this that propels the brand beyond its as-expected trajectory of incrementalism.”
“Apple Intelligence will indeed delight its users in small but meaningful ways. It brings Apple to a level with, but not head and shoulders above, where its peers are.”
Apple’s strategy is in stark contrast to its competitors’ enterprise-first approach. Through these moves, the company aspires to persuade its over 1 billion users, the majority of whom need to be more technologically inclined, of the necessity of emerging technology.
Craig Federighi, an Apple executive, referred to Apple Intelligence as “AI for the rest of us.”
Apple continues to be excessively dependent on iPhone sales, and some analysts have expressed that any potential benefits from the new AI capabilities are unlikely to be realized shortly.
“In this early race, it appears that Alphabet and Microsoft are in a superior position due to their initial actions and the cloud assets they have acquired,” stated Paolo Pescatore, the analyst and founder of PP Foresight.
The latest operating system for Apple’s devices, which was also demonstrated at the event, will include the AI features announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference.
Each year, Apple utilizes the event at its Cupertino, California, headquarters to exhibit updates to its applications and operating systems and demonstrate new tools that developers can incorporate into their applications.
SIRI REVAMP
The redesigned Siri will possess increased autonomy, enabling it to accomplish tasks that have been challenging in the past due to the necessity for the assistant to comprehend the user’s precise intentions and the application’s functionality.
As part of Apple’s partnership with the Microsoft-backed startup, Siri will leverage ChatGPT’s expertise and obtain user consent before querying the OpenAI service. Apple emphasized this privacy feature.
However, the partnership promptly prompted privacy inquiries.
Tesla. On X, CEO Elon Musk declared that he would immediately prohibit Apple devices from being used at his organizations if the iPhone manufacturer incorporates the startup’s technology at the operating system level.
Apple announced that the ChatGPT integration will be accessible later this year, and additional AI features will be added in the future. The chatbot will be free, and users’ information will not be recorded.
Apple published a paper on Monday evening that outlined the measures it would take to safeguard customer data, including those that OpenAI powers. This encompasses the execution of more intricate tasks by Apple’s servers as part of a new service dubbed Private Cloud Compute.
Apple also announced its intention to integrate technology from other AI companies into its devices, following allegations that it was exploring a potential partnership with its long-standing search partner, Google.
Apple intends to implement a hybrid approach that integrates cloud computing and on-device processing to enable AI features. This implies that the AI features will be exclusively available on the most recent iPhones, beginning with the iPhone 15 Pro and forthcoming models.
The company, which has previously opposed the cloud processing of consumer data due to privacy concerns, stated that its new approach would provide additional privacy protections. The company intends to utilize pre-programmed, in-house-programmed data security features.
According to analysts, Apple can also avoid spending funds on Nvidia’s expensive processors by utilizing its chips.
Apple has announced that iOS 18, the software that powers its premier device, will enhance the customization capabilities of the iPhone home screen.
It will include a “lock an app” feature that will assist individuals in safeguarding confidential information. Users can restrict access to specific applications and maintain more stringent control over their data within the operating system.
Additionally, Vision Pro, the company’s mixed-reality headgear, will be accessible in eight additional countries, including China and Japan.
The new VisionOS 2 software for the headgear will incorporate new gestures and utilize machine learning to generate natural depth photos.
