Apple’s (AAPL) Worldwide Developers Conference event kicks off on Monday, June 10, with a keynote from CEO Tim Cook at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California. One of the most anticipated Apple events in years, WWDC 2024 is expected to be the starting point of the company’s big push towards productive artificial intelligence.
Wall Street has been eager to find out what Apple has been cooking up over the last few months as rivals begin to roll out, or in some cases roll back, their own generative AI offerings. Apple has largely been on the sidelines of the AI conversation, aside from a few fleeting mentions on earnings calls and the like.
During the company’s second quarter call in May, Cook appeared to tout Apple’s capabilities in both hardware and software while also citing potential AI news from WWDC.
“We believe in the transformative power and promise of AI and believe we have the advantages that will differentiate us in this new era, including Apple’s unique combination of seamless hardware, software and services integration, groundbreaking Apple silicon and our industry-leading neural engine and commitment to privacy.” our unwavering focus,” he said.
If that wasn’t enough, Apple’s marketing chief Greg Joswiak posted on his old Twitter name X that WWDC’s “Absolutely Incredible!” He shared that it will happen. and make sure both words are capitalized. Understand? artificial intelligence
In addition to unveiling its broader AI strategy, Apple will also release the latest versions of its various operating systems, including iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, tvOS, and the first major updates to the company’s VisionOS, which powers its Vision Pro mixed reality. earphones.
Still, everything else is almost guaranteed to take a backseat to Apple’s AI news.
Siri gets smarter and more
According to Apple soothsayer Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, the highlight of WWDC 2024 will be the new, productive AI-powered version of Apple’s Siri smart assistant. This feature will allow Siri to control individual features within apps, making it much more versatile than Siri on your current iPhone.
Siri has been languishing for years, proving more useful for setting timers and playing songs on Spotify than as a true digital assistant. But a generative AI version of Siri offers the promise of a truly intelligent assistant that can provide you with everything from proactive tips to advanced answers to random questions you have throughout the day.
Bloomberg’s Gurman also says that Apple’s artificial intelligence features, called Apple Intelligence, will also affect other applications such as Messages, Notes and Safari.
Exactly how Apple will power a smarter Siri is still an open question. According to reports from Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, Apple has been in talks with OpenAI to license its GPT software and has been in separate talks with Google (GOOG, GOOGL) to license its Gemini software.
A tie-up with either company can become complicated. OpenAI is already working closely with Microsoft (MSFT), which is trying to separate its PC business from Apple by boasting about how some Windows 11 features are powered by GPT-4o. Meanwhile, Google uses the Gemini AI model in its Android smartphones, which compete directly with Apple’s iPhone. Google is also working with Samsung to provide AI software to the company’s Galaxy phone lineup.
It will also be interesting to see whether consumers or Wall Street will be more excited about Apple’s AI rollout. Investors and analysts have been waiting for Apple to provide some sort of response to the generative AI boom, but so far consumer use cases have been relatively limited.
If Apple introduces some well-developed features, it’s unlikely that consumers will drop everything and buy a new iPhone in September, when the company will release its newest phones. Instead, most consumers will likely wait until they see some sort of hardware upgrade they’ve been waiting for, or until their current phone becomes unbearably slow, before purchasing a new device.
As for iPadOS and macOS, we expect Apple to offer the same AI features in these operating systems that it added to iOS. Overall, I expect Apple to be pretty sensible with its AI moves. The company is extremely sensitive to how consumers perceive its products, and after seeing backlash rivals like Google and Microsoft with their own AI stumbles, it’s hard to imagine Apple announcing something it doesn’t have complete confidence in.
Apart from AI, Apple is also expected to introduce Rich Communication Services or RCS for iPhone. This means users can finally send high-quality images and videos to their Android friends. RCS is also more secure than the SMS standard that Apple currently uses for iPhone-to-Android messaging.
Gurman also says Apple will finally let people arrange app icons on their iPhone home screens any way they want, rather than sticking to the traditional grid layout.
There’s sure to be plenty more announcements from the big show, and Yahoo Finance will be there live to bring you the latest news.
Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DanielHowley.
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