Andrew Haglund

Anticipating Intelligence

MacRumors has a roundup of AI features expected to be announced by Apple on Monday during the WWDC 2024 keynote. There’s a lot of buzz around AI (especially in the stock market where Nvidia is suddenly valued around $3 trillion which is in within spitting distance of Apple and Microsoft, two companies which make way more money).

There’s an over-abundance of hype and I expect there to be quite the comedown when this bubble bursts. Recent mainstream events like Scarlett Johansson’s kerfuffle with OpenAI and Google telling people to eat rocks and glue put a spotlight on the ethical and technical issues with AI technology and the companies hawking these new-fangled products.

Putting that aside for a moment, I am extremely optimistic for what Apple can bring to this space. I enjoy talking with ChatGPT via voice (and subsequent fact checking it) and using it to help me code but I think AI will remain a party trick until it’s fully embedded in our phones and computers.

Things like the Apple Photos widget and iOS 17’s autocorrect are already AI and I think there’s hundreds of ways that AI could help us get things done on our computers in new and faster ways. So count me in as someone who is very excited to see what we’ll get on Monday.

But don’t get too excited. I think iOS 18 will just be the start of a long journey to incorporate these new technologies into our operating systems. I think we’re going to be surprised and impressed come Monday but also let down. Both things can be true. There’s too much hype and anticipation for Apple to solve everything in one year.

© 2024 Andrew Haglund