Table of Contents
Highlights
- Apple’s AI presentation at the June 9 WWDC is expected to be underwhelming, with the Apple AI Gambit exposing the company’s shortcomings to users.
- Despite progress with models of up to 150 billion parameters, Apple has instead strived to focus on the device-side AI features.
- The conference will try to shift focus from technological breakthroughs to brand repositioning and repacking existing features as “AI-driven”.
The Apple AI Gambit has intensified the battle for leadership among tech giants like Google and OpenAI. Apple, on the other hand, has been caught up in a dilemma due to delays. According to the latest report from Bloomberg, the insiders are speculating that at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference on June 9th, an AI presentation will be showcased, which will be disappointing at the conference, while others believe it will also highlight the company’s shortcomings in the AI field.
No “Big” Language Models for AI
The report indicates that one of the important announcements at the WWDC will be Apple’s opening of the foundation models to third-party developers. This will allow the developers to utilise the company’s current device-side technology for lightweight tasks such as text summarisation. But, the large language model has around 3 billion parameters, which is way below the cloud models used by OpenAI and even its internal cloud AI functions.
Despite this, however, Apple has also made progress in AI, with the introduction of models with different complexities. Versions with 3 billion, 7 billion, 33 billion, and 150 billion are in use, and the 150 billion model also relies on cloud computing and is much more powerful than Apple’s device-side technology.
Although the benchmark tests have indicated that the quality of this model is closer to ChatGPT, Apple has delayed using this technology, instead focusing on launching its chatbot.
AI Dilemma of Apple
Apple’s AI narrative had already crumbled last August when developers had accessed the beta versions of Apple Intelligence. There were no powerful features and innovations that its competitors possessed, and the features that were introduced later also paled in comparison to OpenAI and Google.
The Insiders claim that this conference will be disappointing from an AI perspective and will also expose the shortcomings of Apple in the AI department. More speculation claims that the scale of this event will be much smaller than the past two WWDCs, which released the Vision Pro and Apple Intelligence, respectively.
Apple plans to make up for the smaller WWDC with the one that will be held next year, where they will try to convince consumers about Apple’s AI innovation. This move comes with a significant risk as its competitors will also advance by that time.
Focus on Brand instead of Technology
The WWDC that is supposed to happen this year seems to focus more on brand reshaping rather than any technological breakthrough. The report claims that Apple will adopt a year-based system and also rename its operating systems to convince the users of its AI focus. They will also repackage several existing features in the applications, like Safari and Photos, as “AI-driven”.
Conclusion
In the ever-evolving race for AI leadership, Apple has found itself in a tough spot. While the other tech giants have surged ahead with their bold innovations, Apple’s approach has sparked disappointment among fans and killed anticipation as well. The upcoming WWDC will not deliver AI revelations, but rather focus on the commitment and rebranding of Apple. As it charts its course through the competitive landscape, it will hope to bounce back as soon as possible to catch up to its competitors.
