Can Apple rely on its massive user base for an AI advantage?

At Apple's upcoming developer conference, artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to be the star of the show. However, as Bloomberg News wrote last Sunday (May 26), the company faces a difficult task: convincing investors and consumers that it's doing exciting things with AI, in the wake of major launches from Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI.

“The big question is whether it really matters that Apple is playing catch-up here,” writes Bloomberg's Apple expert Mark Gurman. “The company has one advantage that few rivals can match: its massive user base.”

The strength of a large user base

As Gurman wrote, there will be hundreds of millions of Apple products around the world that can support the upcoming AI capabilities, with owners likely to try these new features at least once. This, the report argued, could transform Apple into the biggest AI player overnight.

Still, Gurman added that there are indications that Apple's AI project is still under development, as the company is apparently considering presenting the AI features as a preview. This would be an “unfavorable move,” as Siri launched as a beta test in 2011 and “still feels like that.”

Siri and the future of AI at Apple

A recent report by The Verge about Apple's AI research states that Siri is at the center of the company's AI efforts, with teams working on things like developing a way to use Siri without using an activation word. Instead of waiting for the user to say “Hey Siri” or “Siri,” the voice assistant would be able to determine if someone is speaking to them.

“This problem is significantly more challenging than voice trigger detection,” the researchers acknowledged, “as there may not be a leading trigger sentence that marks the start of a voice command.”

Apple's AI spending

PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster examined Apple's state ahead of the developer conference earlier this month and noted that, for all its AI spending — $100 billion over the past five years — the company “isn't part of the conversation when it comes to the innovators who are now driving the AI revolution.”

The company has said it is partnering with OpenAI for GenAI on the iPhone. “Plan A? Or a sudden shift to Plan B (or C) by feeling the pressure to be late to the Genai party?” Webster wrote.

Crucial moment

Apple is at a crucial moment in its AI journey. With a massive user base and significant investments in AI, the company has the potential to become a major player in the AI space. However, the challenge remains to present these technologies in a way that convinces investors and consumers alike. The upcoming developer conference will be an important indicator of how Apple plans to meet this challenge and whether it can deliver on its promise in AI.

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