Apple unveiled an artificial intelligence overhaul for the iPhone on Monday, turning to Google for help two years after the company stumbled on an initial attempt.
The presentation marked Apple CEO Tim Cook’s final appearance at the company’s annual developer conference — Cook will hand over the reins to longtime CEO John Ternus in September.
Cook two years ago announced at the same conference that Apple was taking a big leap to embrace AI, in a program called Apple Intelligence, as the company faced pressure to join the AI race that had engulfed its US tech giant rivals.
But its promised rollout never fully materialized, with a long-awaited upgrade to the Siri voice assistant failing to materialize despite the announcements, leading to a lawsuit from some US customers that the company settled earlier this year.
Apple’s more deliberate pace of entering the AI frenzy has won praise from some analysts, who credit the company with staying out of the hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure spending that rivals have committed to building AI capabilities.
The company emphasized this narrative at the event, saying it took its time to get the technology right.
“AI is an incredibly powerful technology with the potential to shape society in profound ways, and with proper care, you can unlock meaningful benefits for people everywhere,” Apple software chief Craig Federighi said in a launch video.
“Yet some seem to be racing ahead, seemingly pursuing AI for AI’s sake, with no clear regard for the people… whom it is ultimately intended to serve.”
The company again promised a strengthened Siri – called Siri AI – with the ability to communicate naturally and track information across apps like Maps and Mail and complete tasks.
Many of the advances Apple announced on Monday have already been rolled out to individual users by Google, with AI-powered features added to Gmail, Maps and its Android operating system for smartphones and tablets.
“Apple is betting huge on AI — but their bet is that they don’t need to spend hundreds of billions a year on AI infrastructure… to reap the benefits,” said John Gruber, a closely followed blogger who tracks Apple.
Instead of building models in-house, Apple hired Google to provide the AI capabilities for its new capabilities, using a version of the search engine giant’s Gemini model rather than any technology developed in-house.
Google and Apple are already closely tied, with Google paying out tens of billions of dollars each year to be the default search engine on the iPhone’s Safari web browser.
Apple also touted its parental controls as tech companies face increasing pressure worldwide over children’s safety and screen addiction.
These included enhanced time allowance tools for children with a particular focus on social media and gaming.
Despite the company’s lack of a competitive AI offering, Apple shares have largely defied gravity over the past two years, and the stock is up about 15% this year.
In the first quarter of this year, Apple iPhone sales grew by double digits in virtually every country where it does business.
