During Apple's quarterly earnings call Thursday afternoon, CEO Tim Cook mentioned that the company is working on generative AI software features that will make their way to customers “later this year.” This is consistent with reports from Bloomberg Mark Gorman, who recently said that iOS 18 could be the “biggest” update in the operating system's history. Cook's interesting comments — he mentioned generative AI several times, but didn't provide any details — seem to confirm that we're in for a big release this fall.
As we look to the future, we will continue to invest in these and other technologies that will shape the future. “This includes artificial intelligence, where we continue to spend a tremendous amount of time and effort, and we are excited to share details of our continued work in this area later this year,” Cook said in his prepared remarks.
Analysts tried to press Cook for more details, but he did not provide much. “Our MO, if you will, was always doing the work and then Talk about work, and not get out in front of ourselves. So we'll stick to that as well. But we have some things that we're incredibly excited about, which we'll talk about later this year.
AI software features, ranging from advanced image processing to word processing improvements, have been a major selling point for smartphones from Google and Samsung in recent months. It's rare for Apple to announce its upcoming moves, so you could take this as a sign that the company has ambitious plans to integrate AI into its software platforms — iOS, iPadOS, and macOS — later this year.
“Let me just say that I think there is a huge opportunity for Apple through generative AI and artificial intelligence, without getting into too much detail or getting ahead of ourselves,” Cook said at the end of the call.
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