Gene Munster, Brian BakerMarch 26, 2024
Apple Readies for Its Jump Into Generative AI
Apple
Joz, Apple's Head of Marketing, posted on X saying this year’s WWDC will be “Absolutely Incredible!” as in "AI". This will mark the first glimpse into the company's generative AI strategy and be a monumental day given it will usher in the biggest change in Apple's operating system design since the mid-80's point-and-tap/click interface. This will be a new communication interface driven by generative AI.

Key Takeaways

1
Apple will soon join Microsoft and Google in shifting its operating system interface from point-and-tab/click to generative AI.
2
Apple will likely add generative AI to iOS, MacOS, apps, and Siri.
3
Apple will likely make other AI announcements geared toward developers including access to foundation models.
1

The bar is set

Apple’s AI announcements this year will follow announcements made by Google and Microsoft in May of 2023 related to integrating AI into product interfaces. Keep in mind in about two months, Google and Microsoft will make additional AI announcements at their annual developer events that will further raise the bar. 

Here’s what they introduced in 2023:

Google I/O Key AI Interface Announcements:

  • Google Search: Multisearch features allow searching with images and text simultaneously.
  • Google Workspace: Productivity features like generating backgrounds in Slides, assisted writing in Docs, and data analysis in Sheets.
  • Google Maps: Live View and Immersive View for more visual experiences.
  • Android: Generative AI wallpapers using text-to-image models.
  • Codey: Code generation for application development.
  • Chirp: Speech-to-text for language translation. 

Microsoft Build Key AI Interface Announcements:

  • Windows Copilot: AI-powered assistant integrated into Windows 11.
  • Power Virtual Agents Enhancements: New capabilities for generating dialogue and completing tasks.
2

Apple gets into generative AI

WWDC on June 10 will likely preview how Apple’s iOS and MacOS will incorporate generative AI. This would allow the OS to seamlessly interface with apps. For example, instead of opening an app, you will be able to ask (either through text or voice) your phone to “get me an Uber to the airport”, or “reorder my last pizza from Dominos”. 

Separately, I expect generative AI will be added into iMessage, Mail, Calendar, Notes, Pages, and Numbers. It’s important to note that this goes beyond today’s predictive text, and will actually write entire texts, emails, and reports. 

As for Siri, I’m optimistic that they will announce an AI powered version that will be available sometime in 2024. Currently, while Siri uses some AI for recommendations, it lacks a generative, conversational experience that catapulted Chat GPT into our lives.

It’s unclear what foundation model Apple will use to power the above features.

3

Additional AI developer tools

WWDC will likely preview how developers can leverage foundation models through Apple. The details on how Apple enables this falls into a gray area. It could be through any combination of using its own MM1 model in development or licensing a third-party model (Google’s Gemini, OpenAI’s GPT or Baidu’s ERNIE model for China). 

The basic idea is these commercial agreements would make it easier for developers to add AI into their apps. 

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