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Apple Hints at iOS 18 AI Announcements Coming at WWDC 2024
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Getting FOMO/"me too" vibes from Apple these days. Sad times.
AI is still very much a misnomer at this point. I'll take notice when we have mecha and/or replicant humanoids staffing Apple retail stores, parking our cars, doing our grocery shopping etc.
AI is still very much a misnomer at this point. I'll take notice when we have mecha and/or replicant humanoids staffing Apple retail stores, parking our cars, doing our grocery shopping etc.
You used this rhetorical question to make a point.
But the point you actually made wasn't the one you were going for.
All you did was tell us all how little you know about what you're soapboxing about.
No soapboxing. From a casual follower of this technology, this was literally the first interaction I (and probably many people) have had with this type of AI. So if I came off as ignorant- than guilty as charged! My point was simply that all the talk of Apple being behind led me to ask behind what? I was just generally curious about how people think AI can be used by a company like Apple. Not in some practical way like AI will write your Swift code for you, but more from a consumer point of view. Apologies if the post came off any other way although rereading, I see now how it seems soapboxy.
I strongly suspect they won’t create conversational and powerful Siri AI like we all hope but will instead release a slew of gimmicky AI novelties like erasing objects in photos, curating playlists, etc.
Then they’ll exclaim “See all our AI stuff!?!”
Then they’ll exclaim “See all our AI stuff!?!”
If you are honestly wondering about what the applications of this tech can mean to you, allow me to step on that box of soap…
First you might want to look into the 750 ways your phone already uses AI to do things that would have taken literal magic 5 years ago.
How AI in the technical term is vastly more broad than popular ideas of what the lay person may assume is related to some sort of personality or chatbot.
But then you might also think about how even the super narrow slice of AI that powers chatbots would change things.
Think about how many ways you currently interact with technology in a plain language way, as opposed to needing to use small, separate units of rigidly defined patterns of interaction (specific verbal, tap, mouse, key, etc commands).
Hint: That’s basically zero. For all of us. For every interaction with technology ever created in the history of ever.
Finally think about how much more deeply technology could integrate into our daily lives if it just understood what we wanted, understood what the tech was capable of, and simply took care of doing that without bothering us with the HOW.
Bonus: Think about how this changes things for somebody with essentially zero technical skills. Gramma Jean or Grampy Joe, who has to call up a child or grandchild if Netflix isn’t working (say because it became logged out). These people are the VAST majority of iPhone users. In case you weren’t aware, the LEAST technical person ever to have an opinion on what Apple includes in iOS is in the 99.9th percentile of tech capability.
Double Bonus: Think about how scary it will be shortly if anybody with no technical knowledge can do most of the things a very advanced tech person can do today. We saw a similar sort of sea change happen when non-techies got on the internet with the advent of the smartphone. Permanently changing the world when it became trivial for every single person to ’share’ their voice and opinions with their social circle, at the bottom of every news article/tv show/etc. we handed every human a megaphone. Now we’re handing them something FAR more sophisticated and powerful.
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This potential to understand what we want (no matter how complexly we ask, no matter how POORLY we ask) didn’t really exist until about this time one year ago.
It exploded on the scene in the form of chatbots and pseudo-search-engines.
In my business I talk to the key software devs from a variety of tech companies looking for a certain type of R&D grant.
Let me tell you EVERY SINGLE ONE of these key devs had to pick our jaws off the floor when we saw ChatGPT 3.5 last spring.
Not because of what a ChatGPT can do (though that is incredibly time-saving in ours and MANY others’ work), but because of the potential applications for that fundamental ability to understand a human and synthesize a comprehensive response (whether a series of sentences or a series of commands).
Literally (literally literally, not figuratively literally) every technology company in the world is integrating the brand new and truly, TRULY revolutionary technology of these LLM neural net AIs that power those chatbots that exploded Spring 2023.
This is a new method of interfacing with technology (ANY technology) that is so far beyond anything that existed 18mo ago.
(Aside LLMs have been a long time in the making, but hit that inflection point last spring. NOBODY expected the improvement to happen so fast between November 2022 and March 2023. Quantum leap in the truest sense in that there was a sudden jump to a completely new energy level. Caught everybody off-guard, and everybody is starting from scratch, very few of them working on chatbot-like functionality. These LLMs also have insane applications beyond understanding humans. Applications which we are just scratching the surface of with things like self-driving path decisions and image/video/audio synthesis.)
We are just starting to see the very, very first real-world applications of this new technology that can understand and interpret like nothing ever before.
Every tech company, not just Apple.
By the end of 2024, with whatever application of this tech that has been blitzed out in the first year, whether in iOS 18 or any other tech product/app/site, we aren’t going to see the tip of the iceberg of this new technology.
We are only going to see the very first snowflake that creates a glacier the iceberg will eventually come from.
Most people don’t realize it, but the world COMPLETELY changed direction last spring.
(Funfact: The people who do realize it are excited, but also very, very nervous.)
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I promise you two things:
1. I am nowhere NEAR overstating the above.
2. Whatever we see in iOS 18 will seem underwhelming.
Won’t seem like it DOES anything. Even compared to the ‘limited’ function of the chatbots.
New interfaces don’t do anything. The open possibilities. The first iPhone didn’t really DO anything (VisualVoicemail was really its only novel feature). The iPhone v1.0 introduced multi-touch (swiping, pinching etc), a way to interface with tech in your pocket instead of the ‘computer desk’ that only some of us had in our homes. And within a few years that new interface changed every part of all our daily lives.
After such an insanely short development window for iOS 18 and this new tech (a bit over a year), I expect to see a slightly improved Siri. Not many new or improved capabilities/actions added, but a LOT better at understanding what we say to it.
Probably some dev tools that will let app developers start harnessing a tiny bit of that “what does your app do, what does the user want” technology.
Believe it or not that won’t be Apple falling behind or rushing to catch up with other chatbots/pseudo-search-engines (Apple has even pointedly stated they’re not making a chatbot). That’ll be Apple giving us a sneak peek of the first prototype of multi-touch, before we see its refined form and the equivalent of visual voicemail coming in iOS 19 or 20.
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At least one app exists that already does that. Same for curated playlists…already quite common.
This is what worries me as well. It's awfully bandwagon-y and not like Apple. It's as close to desperation as I've sensed from Apple in a very long time.
I like when Apple makes it known that they follow what the rumor mill is currently obsessing over and decide to lean into it rather than play dumb and portray us as crazy for suggesting they could be working on xyz new thing at all, or whip out their go-to line "We're always exploring new ideas and don't like to comment on future products and services."
Actually, Apple cares very much if people leave their platform. It costs them money. Siri does indeed suck beyond belief and it’s the butt of jokes everywhere. Don’t be so tribal/triggered if someone is displeased with your preferred platform. Differing views are a thing.
Appreciate the thoughtful response- that is what I was looking for. Easier to appreciate how this technology will be revolutionary. And after reading your thoughts, I do agree with you about expectations for Apple at WWDC being a bit unreasonable. That was really my point and then asking what people think is going to happen that will be mind blowing based on what's already out there. It won't be some "iPhone moment". Things are still in the early stages for for this technology but rapidly advancing. As for your fun fact, you said it more concisely than I...folks in the AI area are excited and nervous. The point I missed making was that those making the most noise and spending the most money are hyping everything AI are down playing what makes folks nervous. Sure they acknowledge the power but that is always followed by "but...".
It absolutely WILL be an "iPhone moment".
But people don't recall how underwhelming the iPhone v1.0 unveiling really was. It was more of a "meh moment" for tech aficionados than the AVP announcement was. And to the general tech-using populace? It was absolutely nothing. Completely ignored.