Apple's annual developers conference, WWDC, takes place in 2024. - A more intelligent Siri, an emoji creator and ChatGPT: Apple introduces its major AI push - is it sufficient?
During the start of Apple's WWDC event, it seemed like the company might fail to live up to expectations. Even though AI was the primary focus of the evening, Apple didn't label the new AI features as such for the first hour, choosing to emphasize how clever the new features were instead.
This decision was likely intended to create intrigue. After showcasing numerous new features, a separate part emerged that solely concentrated on AI - under the name Apple Intelligence. This move is meant to differentiate Apple from its competition. Apple is predominantly using a personalized approach for its AI offensive, while also maintaining user data privacy.
Apple Intelligence leverages the enormous amount of data gathered by iPhones and Macs from users and processes it to execute complex commands. Apple emphasizes data security, mainly processing tasks on the device. However, for complex calculations, Apple employs cloud computers. Even then, the firm ensures data safety by only uploading the necessary data, processing it there, and deleting it afterward.
The new AI features can be found across Apple's operating systems. iOS 18, iPadOS, and MacOS Sequoia have all been infused with AI capabilities that extend from amusing tasks to increased convenience to entirely new possibilities. Examples include summarizing notifications, better automated responses, a smarter photo app, generating images and emojis, and more.
One of the most significant changes is the revamped Siri. The voice assistant, introduced in 2011, had faltered in recent times, but Apple now promises a robust comeback. Leveraging its AI foundation, Siri is slated to be smarter than ever. Thanks to access to user data and enhanced speech recognition capabilities, Siri will now understand commands better and answer more complex queries. Furthermore, Siri can now access apps and functions more deeply and execute an extensive range of commands. For instance, searching for and cropping the most attractive photos of your own dog and sending them as an email attachment.
Apple's carefulness regarding AI may be due to the massive data appetite of its rivals' initiatives. To achieve a personalized AI experience, large volumes of personal data are required. This contradicts Apple's promise of data protection. Apple Intelligence's pledge to protect data more effectively and even verify this independence may assuage many concerns.
Older iPhone owners may, however, be dissatisfied with the lack of support for the AI feature. Since the necessary computational power necessitates powerful hardware, Apple Intelligence only supports the iPhone 15 Pro and all iPads and Macs with Apple's M-Chips.
Apple is also collaborating with other companies, particularly integrating ChatGPT into their system. The popular chatbot can now be controlled by Siri and, if necessary, Apple's speech assistant can respond with information from ChatGPT. To ensure data security, Siri asks for permission every time.
ChatGPT is also incorporated into other Apple apps, such as Pages. No account is necessary for this, but premium subscribers can link their accounts for additional features. Unfortunately, the innovations are initially not available to everyone: Many of the language features only function for English speakers, with other languages being added later throughout the year.
The success of Apple's AI foray remains to be seen. Unlike its main competitors, Apple's AI serves primarily to enhance its own products, such as the iPhone and the Mac, rather than acting as a product in its own right. If users perceive these devices as less intelligent, this could potentially impact sales.
However, Apple also faces a challenge in balancing AI and data protection. Siri, for example, has been lackluster in the past due to limited knowledge about users compared to Google's Assistant. If Apple solves this conundrum between data privacy and AI, this could quickly change.
Furthermore, Apple is taking a different approach to AI than its competitors. While companies like Microsoft, Google, and even OpenAI view their AI projects as separate entities, Apple's AI is primarily intended to improve the performance of its products like the iPhone or Mac computers and generate revenue through hardware sales. If users perceive these products as less intelligent, this could potentially impact sales.
