Is Apple playing catchup in AI? This week, they announced their new Apple Intelligence platform, and I was asked live on BBC Television if I thought they were late to the party. You can watch my response below, but I think they are perfectly timed with this announcement.
I truly believe that this may be the tipping point for the introduction of AI assistants into our lives. Apple’s initiative goes far beyond enabling ChatGPT on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac—there is already an app for that.
Instead, Apple Intelligence bakes AI deep into your device. It finally allows an AI system to access data that drives intent and provides relevance and context.
Siri will be able to deliver intelligence that’s tailored to the user and their on-device information. For example, a user can say, “Play that podcast that Jamie recommended,” and Siri will locate and play the episode without the user having to remember whether it was mentioned in a text or an email.
If they ask, “When is Mum’s flight landing?” Siri will find the flight details she sent in an email last week and cross-reference them with real-time flight tracking to give an arrival time.
This is the real power of AI for consumers, and I have been predicting this for nearly 10 years now. Only with on-device AI will you feel more comfortable with AI making decisions based on data it already holds about you.
If anyone is well placed to understand how to develop products and services that “just work” for a consumer audience, then it’s Apple.
I’m currently running the iOS 18 developer beta, and I’ll be playing with the AI features when they get turned on in the coming months.
While this is good news for consumers, it will impact the business world, as business leaders making million-dollar bets on AI rollouts will be able to see firsthand how it improves their own lives and extend that to their customers.
As I say to all my audiences, you need to stay digitally curious and play with the latest tools to understand better how they will enhance your customers’ lives.
Are you excited about Apple’s AI plans?
