Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024 event is likely to become one of the most important events in its recent history. The tech giant has been preparing its artificial intelligence (AI) strategy and new AI-powered features for its user base for the last one and a half years. The company’s CEO Tim Cook has also promised “exciting” generative AI features in the last two earnings calls to stakeholders. A new report now claims that the iPhone maker might take the route of pragmatism and offer features that are more practical for its users.
Apple’s Practical AI Vision
While the Cupertino-based tech giant would likely want to leave a lasting impact with its WWDC event on June 10, following up after OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft’s AI announcements might be difficult. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman highlighted in his Power On newsletter, that instead of competing with the flashy and awe-inspiring AI advancements, the company is more likely to introduce features geared towards practical use.
Some of these features have been reported in the past. Siri could get an AI integration that would make her more conversational and adept at handling complex tasks. The Safari browser could also get an AI-powered web page summary feature. The Notes app is also said to get a live transcription feature. Additionally, a report also mentions that custom AI emojis could be coming to the iPhone.
As per the report, the idea is to offer users features that they can make use of daily. Utilising its massive user base could make it a top contender in the AI space. However, this is easier said than done. Gurman points out that Apple is still steadfast in its approach of making some of the more compute-heavy AI features available via servers. This could be difficult proposition for iPhone users to accept, especially since the company has spent years preaching data privacy and locally-processed features.ma
Apple’s OpenAI Deal
Apart from these, the tech giant might have another ace up its sleeve. The report claims Apple has closed a deal with OpenAI that will allow the iPhone maker to integrate ChatGPT within its devices. This would allow Apple to introduce one of the major chatbots on its smartphone and possibly Mac devices. If the company has any other surprises for the users, they will be known on June 10 when the keynote session of WWDC 2024 commences.
