Apple is widely expected to bring AI updates to the iPhone via iOS 18, and I think it needs ChatGPT or Gemini to do it.
Google said “AI” 121 times during its I/O 2024 keynote on Tuesday. Apple might not beat it, but there’s no question that WWDC will focus heavily on AI. When Apple demos iOS 18 next month, I expect the iPhone demos to be all about what artificial intelligence can do for the user.
I also trust Apple to develop unique takes on genAI products for the iPhone that will leverage some of its strengths. AI on the iPhone must have strong privacy in place to protect user data. For that, some of the iPhone’s AI needs to be processed locally on the handset.
But after seeing OpenAI’s surprise GPT-4o event on Monday and Google’s massive Gemini-centric I/O keynote, I’m convinced the iPhone AI experience can’t happen without incorporating a third-party chatbot from either OpenAI or Google.
I say that as a longtime iPhone user who would love to find out in June that Apple has an AppleGPT of its own that can match GPT-4o and Gemini 1.5 Pro. But I don’t think it’ll happen yet, and Apple can’t afford to delay offering this type of AI experience on the iPhone.
iOS 18 will very likely include generative AI features similar to what we’ve seen from the likes of ChatGPT. I have no doubt that photo editing will get AI features on iPhone or that we’ll be able to generate text and summarize information. Also, I expect transcription and translation services to be available in iOS 18.
Furthermore, Apple can certainly make Circle to Search experiences happen on the iPhone without needing Google. It’s got Visual Look Up already, which can be upgraded to work more like Google’s take.
