One of the main themes of WWDC 2024 is AI, or in Apple’s marketing, Apple Intelligence. Apple promises that it will bring AI features to the next version of the software that runs its hardware. Apple promises that AI features that make headlines will be safe, private, and useful. One year on and as we approach, let’s look at how Apple did on AI. Or, how Apple botched its AI response.
Expectations vs Reality
Apple was the first company to release a smart digital assistant. However, Apple squandered that first-mover advantage. Competitions like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa not only catch up to Apple’s Siri but run circles around Siri. Apple Intelligence injection promises major improvements to Siri, making it far smarter and more useful, but alas, Siri is still in dire need of improvements.
Most of the features that were announced in WWDC 2024 were released by macOS 15.2 in December 2024, a few months later than Apple’s usual tight schedule. The features were delayed as some features that were introduced earlier in macOS 15.1 and equivalent on iPhones, iPads, et al are buggy.
One feature is the summarizer where the underlying OS will read a series of messages to you and give you a summary of the context. One of the faux pas in the situation is when the viral case of the summarizer concluded the user’s girlfriend wanted to break up and asked the user to take his things out.
And then, there are the competitors. Or how Apple’s big tech competitors run around in circles on the AI scene. Microsoft is a big backer of OpenAI, the leading (in the news anyway) player in AI. Google’s Gemini AI assistant started rocky, but it is a neck-and-neck race against OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Apple’s Siri? Just still like that, I’m afraid.
Apple AI features like Image Playground, Genmoji, and Image Wand (to repair and erase objects in images) are decent, but compared to the competitors, it is nothing to shout about. A few months ago, ChatGPT made news by providing functionality where you can create Ghibli Studio style images from a given image. Of course, Hayao Miyazaki, the co-founder of Ghibli Studios flipped. Case in point: Apple would never release such software just to create raves.
Finally, there’s the case where some of the features were announced, but never shipped. One of the features that were presented on-stage in WWDC 2024 is Swift Assists. This feature is supposed to be updated with the latest XCode where you can type in what you want to go in a prompt and XCode will create the necessary code for you. The problem is, until press time, this feature never shipped.
Meanwhile, there’s a cottage industry of AI-assisted coding sprung up where billions of dollars changed hands. Now we have GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf and many others. We even came up with a new name for people who use those things extensively: vibe coder.
Conclusion
While Apple’s efforts in the AI space are commendable, it is too little too late and too little to have any major impact. Yes, the power of defaults means AI features are now in the hands of the vast majority, but Apple is not leading the charge in this space, it is merely a follower.
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| Base | Pro | |
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| iPhones | iPhone 16 / iPhone 16 Plus - (Amazon) | iPhone 16 Pro / iPhone 16 Pro Max - (Amazon) |
| Watch | Apple Watch SE (Amazon) / Apple Watch Series 10 | Apple Watch Ultra 2 (Amazon) |
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| iPad | iPad 10 (Amazon) / iPad Mini (Amazon) | iPad Air M2 (Amazon) / iPad Pro M4 (Amazon) |
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| Desktop | Mac Mini (Amazon) / iMac (Amazon) | Mac Studio / Mac Pro |
| Displays | Studio Display (Amazon) | Pro Display XDR (Amazon) |
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