It is not during a financial results conference that Apple will go into detail about future products. But it’s always a place where Tim Cook can highlight his interest in this or that topic of the moment. And this was the case last night about AI.
Apple’s speech has changed a lot: while it did not mention the expression “artificial intelligence” once at the last WWDC, Tim Cook now clearly mentions generative AI during his phone calls with investors. The CEO has also dangled some new developments on this subject, ensuring that he has “ benefits » in the field which “ differentiated » Apple from other companies. He promised that “ very exciting things » would be revealed to customers in the near future.
More specifically, Tim Cook said “ very optimistic » regarding the opportunities brought by generative AI during his call following the presentation of Q2 2024 results. It must be said that investors are putting pressure on Apple, the technology having been on everyone’s lips for almost a year. The CEO has already had to reassure in the past by reminding several times that he was not watching the train go by. This time he clarified:
We believe in the transformative power and promise of AI and believe we have advantages that will differentiate us in this new era, including Apple’s unique combination of seamless integration of hardware, software and services , revolutionary Apple silicon with our industry-leading neural engines, and our unwavering focus on privacy, which is the foundation of everything we create.
To a question from an analyst, Tim Cook reiterated that Apple feels perfectly comfortable in this area. We didn’t expect the Apple boss to say the opposite, but he hit the nail on the head:
I think generative AI and AI, both represent big opportunities for us through our products, and we’ll say more about that in the coming weeks, but I think in many ways there are great things for us and we thought we were well positioned.
If the WWDC in June should mark the start for Apple, we could know a little more next week. Rumors say that the new iPad Pros will feature an M4 chip with a revised Neural Engine optimized for AI. The technology-based functions are currently unknown, but a large part is expected to run locally on the devices.
