In the early hours of this morning, Apple officially announced that the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024 will kick off from June 10 to 14. Greg Joswiak, Apple's senior vice president of global marketing, posted on social media: "Put WWDC24 on your calendar. This event will undoubtedly surprise you!" and cleverly spelled the initials of "Absolutely Incredible" in capital letters, which together are AI, as if to hint at the focus of this year's WWDC.
Interestingly, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple does not plan to launch its own generative AI chatbot in iOS 18, but is working with companies such as OpenAI, Google, and Baidu to release new AI features to assist users in their daily lives.
Compared with domestic brands that have long been equipped with AI assistants, Apple is more than half a year late this time. Slow steps have always seemed to be Apple's label, but they always surprise us as we move forward. However, the progress rate of AI models is counting in weeks, or even days, is Apple's lateness another latecomer, or the beginning of a new era of laggard?
The progress is slow, the message is few, and the layout is large. Here's an overview of Apple's exploration of AI. Whenever you see that a certain technology of Apple is lagging behind the market and competitors, it gives the illusion of "starting too late". However, when looking through the relevant news and patent documents, we will find that it is often the first batch or even that one. As of 2023, Apple has acquired a total of 32 AI companies, ranking first among tech giants. The acquisition of Siri should be regarded as the beginning of Apple's entry into AI.
There is still a long way to go in the integration of large models and systems, apps, and the exploration of new ways to interact. Until then, AI capabilities had not yet reached the level of influencing consumers' purchasing decisions.
In the first year of AI, Siri's goal is to erase the gap with other AI assistants for more than half a year, and as an important part of Apple's layout in the future, we are looking forward to what kind of "One more thing" Siri will bring in June. Finally, let's look forward to Apple's wonderful performance in the field of AI.