Tim Cook to investors: Apple will ‘break new ground’ in Generative AI this year

There’s a lot of pressure on Apple to show evidence that the company is serious about Gen AI and can compete with its big tech peers, especially Microsoft and Google. Investors want to know more about how Apple views the generative artificial intelligence space, which is the explosive breakout tech trend right now, capturing the attention of not only techies but also mainstream audiences.

“Later this year, I look forward to sharing with you the ways we will break new ground in generative AI, another technology we believe can redefine the future,” Cook said.

The iPhone 15 Pro. (Image: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

Cook’s confirmation on the company’s ambitions around generative artificial intelligence comes days after Apple reportedly shelved its electric car project, known as “Project Titan” internally. Cook previously called the secretive Apple Car project the “mother of all AI projects.”

Big tech companies like Microsoft, Google, Nvidia, and Amazon are investing billions of dollars in General AI. Over the past few months, numerous chatbots and services have emerged, embedding generative AI into core products and services. However, tech companies have yet to show how the hype translates into profits.

Cook didn’t go into details on how Apple plans to bring generative artificial intelligence to the iPhone and other products. However, industry insiders speculate that Apple will disclose its AI strategy at its annual Worldwide Developer Conference in June, where it often unveils the upcoming software versions that power the iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch.

Since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022, Google has been racing to produce AI software to rival that of the Microsoft-backed company. (Image Source: Google)

Apple is reportedly planning to upgrade Siri and iOS’s built-in search tool, Spotlight, with GenAI models. The company is also said to be adding AI-powered features, allowing users to automatically generate presentation slides in Keynote and playlists in Apple Music, as well as GenAI-powered coding suggestions in Xcode, the company’s app development platform. Apple has published open-source models and tools for developing GenAI-powered software in recent months.

Bloomberg reported in October that Apple was investing $1 billion a year to catch up on GenAI, including efforts like a proprietary large language model called Ajax and an internal chatbot known as Apple GPT. iOS 18, the next version of the operating system that powers the iPhone, may bring GenAI-powered features to the world’s most popular smartphone.

Experts say Apple’s entry into generative artificial intelligence may help scale up the reach of generative artificial intelligence massively. However, there are already concerns over AI ethics and accuracy that pose a major problem with how these Large Language Models (or LLMs) work. The recent issues surrounding the Gemini AI image-generation feature led Google CEO Sundar Pichai to publicly acknowledge the Gemini AI’s inaccuracies, leading to its temporary removal for improvements.