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Apple will be setting its artificial intelligence (AI) agenda at its annual developers conference this week.
The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), an information technology conference held annually both online and on-location in Apple Park, regularly focuses on software updates.
Apple touted Apple Intelligence integration into its new operating system, iOS 27, ahead of the conference.
Expected new AI features include improvements to Image Playground, which is rumoured to generate more lifelike images, and an upgraded Genmoji feature that would proactively suggest custom graphics based on a user’s photo library. The centrepiece, however, is expected to be a major overhaul of Siri, powered by Google’s Gemini AI.
Apple launched Apple Intelligence, the AI arm of its technology in 2024. At the time, it integrated OpenAI’s ChatGPT into Apple devices, but has since struck a deal with Google to make Gemini AI its primary AI partner, with ChatGPT remaining available as an opt-in option.
The company has been criticised for taking longer than rivals Samsung and Google to rush out the technology, but analysts have previously told Euronews Next that Apple is now in a position to take a “wait-and-see” approach with new AI technologies to offer customers a better experience than its rivals.
Analysts told the Associated Press that Apple could show its AI expansion into some new hardware products, such as foldables, wearable tech and smart home products “by way of developer and ecosystem updates,” according to Gadjo Sevilla, a senior analyst at research market company Emarketer.
Sevilla also expects Apple to launch new features for Siri, the built-in voice assistant.
Sevilla said he anticipates Siri should be more conversational, able to pick up multiple tasks in one request and will have more memory.
“An upgraded, agentic version of Siri — capable of managing conversations and tasks across iPhones, Macs, and iPads — could become as ubiquitous as features like AirDrop and Handoff, which already unify Apple’s ecosystem,” Sevilla told the Associated Press.
This WWDC is also the last for Apple CEO Tim Cook, who announced his retirement in April, passing the torch to John Ternus, the senior vice president of hardware engineering.
During the Cook era, Apple grew to be worth $4 trillion (€3.44tn). Cook took the helm in 2011, four years after the iPhone’s launch, but presided over its global dominance.