By Adam Clark
Apple hasn’t said much about its artificial-intelligence plans. Investors hoping for that to change might need to wait until the iPhone maker’s developers’ conference.
Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is expected to take place in June and is likely to be the time when the company makes its AI announcements, according to Citi analyst Atif Malik. Apple CEO Tim Cook said in the company’s latest earnings call that the company was investing in the technology and would make an announcement later this year.
“Apple hasn’t publicly talked about its AI efforts in details, and concerns have been around the company… lagging other tech giants in the race. We note that the company has been making notable progress in recent months,” Malik wrote in a research note. “Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) may mark the announcement of various Apple AI tools.”
Speculation for the event has largely revolved around the potential unveiling of an AI-powered version of Apple’s Siri chatbot software.
Now it seems Apple could also release an AI software tool for app developers, according to a report from Bloomberg on Thursday that cited people with knowledge of the matter. The tool would have a similar capacity to Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot to complete blocks of code and would be included in Apple’s Xcode software, according to the report.
Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment early on Friday.
Apple shares were down 0.3% in premarket trading on Friday and had fallen 4.5% this year through to Thursday’s close. That contrasts to the stock-price gains achieved by the raft of tech companies whose earnings have been boosted by AI, or have laid out how they can gain from the technology.
“We believe the “Super Bowl moment for Apple” will be when Cook & Co. finally take the covers off the generative AI technology being worked on in the labs of Apple Park and introduce it to developers and consumers at WWDC in June followed by the exclusive AI features we expect to be included on iPhone 16,” Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives wrote in a recent research note.
Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com