WWDC24 Wrap Up & Thoughts on Apple Intelligence
We stated last year was a pivotal moment, with Apple introducing new hardware and, in the process, a new computing paradigm: Spatial Computing.
This year is likely to be even more significant due to Apple's announcement and system-wide adoption of AI, cleverly rebranded as Apple Intelligence, in a move typical of Apple.
Just as the iPod revolutionized music by bringing dematerialized content to the masses, this year's announcement aims to make AI accessible to everyone, or "The Rest of Us," as Apple likes to call it.
AI is integrated across all platforms: iOS, iPadOS, and macOS and materialized in productive applications like Writing Tools that improve writing, adapt tone in any input field and summarize long texts. It is also used in more creative features, like Genmojis that creates custom emojis and Image Playground, which is able to generate pictures from descriptive words. All these features are embedded right into the operating system, greatly enhancing the accessibility of Artificial Intelligence.
Siri is getting a big (and needed) upgrade, enhanced with natural language understanding, contextual memory, and typed prompts. But this is not limited to just Siri, Apple Intelligence features an on-device semantic index for personal context that can organize and surface information from across apps and feed generative models to execute actions.
Requests to Apple Intelligence undergo an evaluation for on-device processing. If additional power is required, they are processed on Apple servers using Private Cloud Compute, which maintains user privacy. This data is not stored or accessible to Apple, and only used for user requests. Even further, Apple Intelligence can expand to other artificial intelligence tools form more complex queries that require broader knowledge or specialized expertise, and such models will be gradually integrated. The first one that will be available is the pioneer and market leader: ChatGPT from OpenAI.
These features, when combined, are telltale signs of the significant changes AI is introducing to computing and its impending impact on our lives. In typical Apple fashion, the software engineers have been working on the optimal integration of this technology, with a central focus on the user and their privacy, thereby prioritizing the user experience.
Being in Cupertino, interacting with fellow developers, and experiencing the town's enthusiasm is always enjoyable. And this year the excitement around the wealth of AI features and the depth of their integration has certainly impressed those in attendance.
And the highlight of this year, for our team, was once again attending The Talk Show Live in San Jose. If you aren’t familiar with the show, Daring Fireball’s columnist John Gruber hosts top Apple executives and interviews them about the new things just shown during the WWDC Keynote. This year again Craig Federighi was drawing all the attention, but we had our minute, having had the privilege of being the premier sponsor!
