During WWDC, Apple Shows Modest AI Ambitions. With Intelligence, Apple Is Not Planning to Take the Lead, but Rather Comfortably Draft Behind OpenAI.
For bold statements and impressive AI announcements, Apple’s WWDC was not the place to be on Monday evening. On the contrary, AI seemed to play a subordinate role. The most striking news to be gleaned from the opening night was a new appearance and numbering system for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.
read also
iOS 26 iPadOS 26: which Devices Will be Left behind?
A year ago, however, it was all about AI at WWDC. Apple then showed Intelligence, Apple’s suite of AI solutions for its ecosystem, to the world for the first time. But while Apple’s competitors can’t move fast enough in announcing better models and new features, Apple is taking it slower.
Slow Catch-up Race
Apple Intelligence was a catch-up maneuver from day one. The power of Intelligence wasn’t in groundbreaking new features, but in how Apple integrates it into its ecosystem. A year later, Apple hasn’t deviated from that strategy. Intelligence is even more deeply embedded in the new versions of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, but we didn’t see any groundbreaking innovations during WWDC.
A few new iPhone features that stand out are live translations and subtitles for phone calls and Visual Intelligence, which allows you to look up things with your camera. The seasoned Android user will rightly point out that Visual Intelligence is nothing more than the iOS version of Google Lens, which has existed since 2017. Apple can hardly claim to be reinventing the wheel with live AI translations either.
The renovation of Siri is not even being discussed anymore. Siri was once a groundbreaking feature, but has hardly evolved since its launch fifteen years ago and feels hopelessly outdated compared to Google Gemini and ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode. The voice assistant almost seems illustrative of Apple’s difficult catch-up race.
Open AI with OpenAI
Apple is diverting attention by appeasing developers. It promises to open up its on-device AI model to external parties. “We’re opening up access for every app to directly log into the on-device, large language model that forms the core of Apple”, said Craig Federici, Apple’s software patron. Those who know Apple know that the company doesn’t just open the doors of its ecosystem willingly.
With this move, Apple is hitching its wagon to OpenAI. OpenAI will, among other things, integrate code generation tools into the XCode developer platform and bring its image generation capabilities to the Image Playground app. This move is convenient for both OpenAI, which has to compete against Google Gemini on Android, and for Apple, which hopes to join the leading group in OpenAI’s slipstream.
He who Laughs Last, Laughs Best
Both friend and foe were left with mixed feelings after Apple’s WWDC. Apple has shown that it’s not in the leading group of the AI race. If there’s one company that feels comfortable in the tail of the peloton, it’s Apple. Tim Cook himself said a few months ago that “Apple doesn’t need to be first with AI, but the best”.
Apple has proven multiple times in the past that you don’t have to start first, but you have to finish first. The most famous example is and remains the iPhone, which was also far from being the first smartphone, but managed to convince the world of the concept. Today, every AI company strives for that new “iPhone moment”.
The OS ecosystem, praised by insiders and cursed by outsiders, is Apple’s AI trump card in which Intelligence must flourish. While Google, OpenAI, and others sprint ahead, Apple remains calmly in the slipstream. It considers the AI race not a sprint, but a marathon. Whether this waiting attitude will carry Apple across the finish line remains to be seen.