Apple under pressure to shine after rare AI stumble

San Francisco: Pressure is on Apple to show it hasn’t lost its magic despite broken promises to ramp up iPhones with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) as rivals race ahead with the technology.

Apple will showcase plans for its coveted devices and the software powering them at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) kicking off today in Silicon Valley. The event comes a year after the technology titan said a suite of AI features it dubbed “Apple Intelligence” was heading for iPhones, including an improvement of its much criticised Siri voice assistant.

“Apple advertised a lot of features as if they were going to be available, and it just didn’t happen,” noted Emarketer senior analyst Gadjo Sevilla.

Instead, Apple delayed the rollout of the Siri upgrade, with hopes that it will be available in time for the next iPhone release, expected in the fall.

“I don’t think there is going to be that much of a celebratory tone at WWDC,” the analyst told AFP. “It could be more of a way for Apple to recover some credibility by showing where they’re headed.”

Industry insiders will be watching to see whether Apple addresses the AI stumble or focuses on less splashy announcements, including a rumoured overhaul of its operating systems for its line of devices.

Rumours suggest Apple may add GenAI deals with Google or Perplexity to its year-old OpenAI alliance. — AFP