Apple opens new tab is expected to showcase how it is integrating artificial intelligence across its software suite, including a revamped Siri voice assistant and a possible tie-up with ChatGPT owner OpenAI, at its annual developer conference on Monday.
More is at stake at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2024) than in previous such events, as the iPhone maker seeks to reassure investors that it has not lost the AI battle to Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab even though it may have forfeited a few rounds.
Apple will have to show the vast majority of its more than 1 billion users – most of whom are not tech aficionados – why they would want the new breed of AI that has swept Silicon Valley, analysts said.
“Apple will put on a show,” said Ryan Reith, analyst at market research firm IDC. “If they nail the landing, the potential is to get the consumer actually interested in AI because so far it has been mostly about enterprise.”
Apple has been using AI behind the scenes for years to power features on its devices, such as the ability of its watches to detect crashes and falls. But it has been reluctant to tout how this technology boosts functionality in its devices, as Microsoft has done with the help of its early bet on OpenAI.
Microsoft overtook Apple as the world’s biggest company by market capitalization in January, and Apple’s shares have trailed those of other Big Tech companies this year. AI chip giant Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab briefly overtook Apple last week as the world’s second-most valuable company, underscoring for some investors a shift in power in the tech world.
“Apple’s early reticence toward AI was entirely on brand. The company has always been famously obsessed with what its offerings did for its customers rather than how it did it,” said Forrester analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee.
“But then the AI silence got deafening. All that will change on June 10,” he said.
Apple uses the developer conference at its Cupertino, California, headquarters each year to showcase updates to its own apps and operating systems as well as to show developers new tools they will be able to use in their apps.
Source: Reuters
