Later today, the top brass of the world’s second third largest company Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL, ETR:APC) will get together for its annual Worldwide Developers Conference.
Without a doubt, artificial intelligence will be front and centre of the 10am Pacific Time keynote speech, as the Cupertino technology titan attempts to convince the world it has the chops to keep up with its Magnificent Seven cohort.
Ever the trendsetter, Apple rarely falls behind in global tech trends.
Yet there’s a sense that the company missed the boat when OpenAI’s groundbreaking ChatGPT large-language model heralded a brave new world of AI-led innovation.
After all, Apple’s age-old rival, Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT)., provided the financial resources to make ChatGPT a reality. Now Microsoft is on the brink of releasing a new breed of AI-powered personal computers.
Nvidia Corp, which to the tech world’s amazement has caught up to Apple’s $3 trillion valuation, is AI’s pick-and-shovel play. Its superpowered parallel graphics processing units are the engine on what AI data centres run.
Google parent Alphabet was quick to put its card on the AI table with its own LLM Gemini. Apple is reportedly in talks with Alphabet to integrate Gemini with Apple devices later this year.
There is no autonomous driving without AI. Famed tech investor and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) bull Cathie Wood reckons autonomous driving is the “biggest AI project on earth” (although her track record is far from impeccable).
The point is, Apple lacks an AI killer app, something Cook and Co surely want to change.
Let’s be Siri-ous
Apple has remained tightlipped in the build-up to WWDC 2024, but at the very least, we can expect software to be the focus.
The company has already pushed out its hardware announcements for the year- first the Vision Pro, then the new MacBook Air, then the impressively thin new iPad Pro.
It leaves plenty of room to discuss Apple’s software advances and what AI can bring to the table.
But will an AI-optimised new operating system, or a supercharged new Siri, be enough to convince the world that the AI revolution isn’t passing Apple by?
We’ll find out on Monday.
‘Most important event in over a decade’
Analysts at Wedbush expect Apple to unveil its “highly anticipated AI strategy” on Monday, “which we believe will kick off an AI-driven accelerated growth cycle on the iPhone and Services that will be the narrative of the Apple story for the coming years.”
They added: “In our view WWDC represents the most important event for Apple in over a decade as the pressure to bring a generative AI stack of technology for developers and consumers is front and center with Cook & Co. set to make history for Cupertino next Monday.”