It’s only a few days until Apple unveils its own AI features at WWDC with an emphasize on privacy. The time is right for one of the company’s chief competitors, Microsoft, to address the ‘security disaster’ that its hallmark AI feature, Recall, is said to be.
Today Microsoft has done just that. They aren’t apologizing for Recall’s security holes, but they are making changes that are meant to alleviate users’ concerns.
Much of what the company will announce is playing catch-up to its competitors, though at a scale and accessibility that’s hard to match. However, where the company is especially poised to make an AI splash is in its differentiated approach.
Unlike its competitors, Apple has strengths in two areas that are currently PR headaches for AI: privacy and the environment.
Here’s what that means for its AI reveals at WWDC.
AI features coming to iOS 18 and Apple’s other platforms may be exciting for lots of users, but for some, there exist legitimate concerns around privacy.
Apple gets it, and per a new report, the company plans to make certain iOS 18 AI features not only privacy-conscious, but also opt-in only.
Microsoft has a target on Apple’s back with its AI-centric Copilot Plus PC models. When the computers were announced, the company repeatedly claimed that they outperformed the latest M3 MacBook Airs. Today a new ad campaign sought to further entice switchers away from the Mac.
It turns out, not every aspect of the Copilot Plus PCs is ready for prime time. The hallmark AI feature Microsoft formerly demoed, Recall, has been exposed by an expert as being a security disaster.
Siri is expected to be at the center of a host of AI-related enhancements coming to iOS 18. Now, thanks to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, we have fresh information on some of the specific upgrades coming to Apple’s intelligent assistant.
Apple’s WWDC keynote is fast approaching, where the company will unveil all its AI features for iOS 18, macOS 15, and more.
I’ve written previously about how Apple has the potential to make AI mass-market with iOS 18 in a way few other companies can. I expect Apple’s presentation to largely focus on AI features that are simple to use and serve existing needs in a more convenient way. There probably won’t be many jaw-dropping moments during the keynote, but rather a lot of nice-to-haves.
However, after seeing what a new third-party autobiography app is doing with AI, I’m convinced Apple could have a blow away moment if it showed off an AI-supercharged Journal app.
AI is everywhere. Tech companies not talking about AI are hard to find. When compared to players leading in this space like OpenAI and Google, Apple is generally seen as being “behind.”
But despite AI being everywhere, in many ways it’s also still a fringe technology for the average person. It’s not truly mainstream. Sure it’s accessible to anyone with access to the web, but the number of people actually using services like ChatGPT is still relatively small compared to the total population of users with a smartphone or computer.
This is why next month’s WWDC presents Apple with tremendous opportunity. iOS 18 has the potential to truly bring AI to the masses.
MacWhisper is a super useful utility for quickly transcribing spoken audio on the Mac. Version 8 is launching today with new features around video, speed, AI, and more.
Artificial intelligence buzz is all over the news, but for all the technology’s potential, a key piece of the AI story that’s not covered enough is tech companies’ need for existing content to train AI models on—and sometimes using that content without its owners’ consent.
According to a new report from Bloomberg, Sony Music Group is putting those companies on notice with a firm warning against unauthorized use of its content.
Yesterday in its spring update, OpenAI launched a fully-native Mac app for ChatGPT and also debuted its new flagship model, GPT-4o. There was no shortage of remarkable demos and excitement, especially for Apple users mulling the rumored Apple-OpenAI partnership for iOS 18.
One key thing that caught my interest in the full event video was a forthcoming ChatGPT app feature that was demoed but without any real details shared. What feature? The ability for ChatGPT to see everything happening on your device’s screen.
Last week at its iPad event, Apple demoed the future of Logic Pro when it previewed Logic Pro 2 for iPad. The new update leans heavily into AI-driven features, including powerful automatic stem-splitting and the ability to record a fully AI-built band.
These Logic Pro updates are now available on both iPad and Mac. Here are the details.
Today OpenAI held a spring update event, where it outlined some of its latest work on the ChatGPT platform. One key announcement was the arrival of a new Mac desktop app, but the larger focus was on a new flagship model of ChatGPT. This new model, GPT-4o, arrives just in time for a rumored deep integration into iOS 18 at WWDC.
Coordinating teams and in-office days in our new normal of hybrid work is a difficult task, and one that carries a lot of untapped potential for productivity tools. Today Microsoft announced the public preview launch of Places, a new app a couple years in the making that aims to use AI to assist teams in syncing their in-office time.
The accessibility of AI is on the rise, and with it, content platforms now have to grapple with how to handle the potential issues AI can introduce.
A new report indicates that TikTok is about to ramp up its efforts in AI transparency. It will do this by automatically labeling all AI-generated content. Or at least, the content it knows about.
Update: It turns out Tim Cook was misunderstood in the CNBC story. The full quote in context does not imply an AI software announcement at next week’s hardware event, although Apple does infuse its silicon with AI readiness. Here’s the full quote in context:
”Looking ahead, we’re getting ready for an exciting product announcement next week that we think our customers will love. And next month, we have our Worldwide Developers Conference, which has generated enormous enthusiasm from our developers. We can’t wait to reveal what we have in store. ”
Additionally, with a pause inserted to explain what happened:
“And we’re getting into a period of time here where we’re extremely excited like I’m in the edge of my seat literally because next week, we’ve got a product event that we’re excited about. And then just a few weeks thereafter, we’ve got the developers Worldwide Developers Conference coming up and we’ve got some big plans to announce in in both of these events. [pause] From an AI point of view…”
Apple is still expected to unveil its AI software innovations in June during its Worldwide Developers Conference.
If you’ve been keeping up with generative AI and large language models on iPhone, then you may be aware that Anthropic’s Claude AI was notably absent from iOS.
Meanwhile, OpenAI has been updating ChatGPT on iPhone for a while now, and Google’s Gemini exists in its iOS app. Starting today, however, Claude for iPhone is joining the party.
Siri has recently been attempting to describe images received in Messages when using CarPlay or the announce notifications feature. In typical Siri fashion, the feature is inconsistent and with mixed results.
Nevertheless, Apple forges ahead with the promise of AI. In a newly published research paper, Apple’s AI gurus describe a system in which Siri can do much more than try to recognize what’s in an image. The best part? It thinks one of its models for doing this benchmarks better than ChatGPT 4.0.
Siri launched with the iPhone 4S in October 2011, replacing Voice Control with a more capable virtual assistant. A dozen years later, Siri has evolved into the primary way we interact with our Apple products.
Wait, no, I’m being told Siri sounds more natural but the core technology is roughly the same. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence now means generative AI and chat bots are based on large language models.
Siri and the rest of iOS 18 will join the AI revolution in June, ending our long national nightmare of Siri being somewhere between hot garbage and kinda useful sometimes. At least that’s what’s being reported, but we don’t really have a great sense of what to expect yet.
Another day, another case of Apple stoking the growth fire on Wall Street with the magical two letters: AI.
Tim Cook’s shareholder meeting comments about Apple breaking new ground for AI this year were intended to excite investors. According to one analyst, however, the market has not been persuaded by promises. Still, they make the case for one investors should be optimistic about the company’s revenue growth with AI.
Meanwhile, Apple has found new ways to market existing silicon using AI. The term AI, not the technology, that is.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has a message for Wall Street. He believes Apple “break new ground” on generative AI this year. Cook’s latest AI hype comments came today during Apple’s annual shareholders meeting.
