Tech giant Apple (AAPL) held its highly anticipated Worldwide Developers Conference today, unveiling new generative AI features in its iOS 18 update, and Ben Bajarin, CEO and Principal Analyst at Creative Strategies, appears on Market Domination to share his outlook on Apple's new innovations.
Bajarin noted that “most people don't use generative AI in any form on a daily basis,” and with Apple working to implement the technology in iPhones, the most important story to emerge from the event will be “how does Apple bring this to the forefront and make it actually useful?”
While some have speculated that Apple has entered the AI race late, Bajarin isn't concerned with the company's timeline. “I think it shows that they're releasing it at the right time, whether it was late or not,” he told Yahoo Finance. “I think now is the time for Apple to roll this out to all consumers, where they can see value in their workflow. I think the timing is just right.”
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Video Transcript
With Apple holding its annual Worldwide Developers Conference centered around artificial intelligence, the tech giant has high hopes for AI developments, and the stock is likely to hold up on gaming again this year, but it is near the lows it hit the day after Tim Cook's keynote.
You will join us as Creative Strategist, CEO and Principal Analyst.
I said there's a lot to scrutinize here, but Apple seems to be very concerned about the privacy aspects of its AI features.
Would you say that was your biggest takeaway?
What has been your biggest takeaway so far?
I think the key question is how Apple will implement this.
So, one of the things I think is important is to get the picture that most people don't use generative AI in some way on a day-to-day basis.
So I think that was a theme throughout the keynote, how Apple brings this to the forefront and makes it actually useful.
Obviously, they place a lot of emphasis on personal context.
A lot of the terminology they use is this semantic engine, and it becomes very familiar to them by understanding you so well.
And I think that's exactly where the privacy aspect comes into play.
But the key is to implement it in a way that people find useful.
And in many ways, I think they don't feel like they're using generated AI.
They use very useful features like emojis, texts, summaries, and integrate some image creation tools to make them convenient and functional, while still ensuring privacy.
But it's really about making these things easier to use and more engaging. You know, Ben, coming into this event, there was a widespread perception, at least among some people, that Apple was in some ways lagging behind in this AI race.
Ben, do you think these announcements will be made at today's event, this big software show?
Do you think it changes the narrative or story?
Yeah, I mean, I think there's two ways to look at this, right?
II I think if you look at everything they've done with Apple Intelligence it strongly suggests that a lot of it is their models and AI. Well, it looks like they're only using JCPT for a few things, like creating content to publish to the web and running searches.
But a lot of what they showed is actually Apple's model.
So I think it just goes to show that they're releasing it at the right time, whether it was delayed or not.
I think now is the time for consumers, and for Apple, to roll this out to all consumers so they can see the value in their workflow.
So we think now is the right time to make this useful again, and ensure that when people use these features, they find them valuable and engaging as part of their overall software experience.
In this case, the Apple ecosystem and Ben, it strikes me that you say people don't necessarily want this.
This is consistent with research you conducted that found interest in second-generation AI is strong among smartphone users outside of China.
27% of respondents said they'd be interested in next-gen AI-enabled smartphones, 28% said they weren't, and the rest were like, well, I'm interested, but why not? Do you think what you've seen today will convince smartphone users that they need these features?
I think there are some interesting features among the fun ones.
It might seem odd, but I think emojis are going to be really popular.
The idea of just creating from an image that comes to me or a reaction to something.
I find this very compelling: Imagine if you don't have a modern iPhone, but you received one of these cool and creative emojis from a friend.
So you'd look at it and say, that would be really fun.
I would like to do that.
So I think the first thing people will be interested in are the quirky, fun features. And then we have some productivity features, which actually help you get your work done. And in the personalization series, the ability to anticipate your needs is going to be fascinating.
But you're right, Apple has to tell a story, so why should you care about these things when most people don't?
