Apple's big AI news is coming - and Wall Street likely just got a date for it

By Emily Bary

WWDC kicks off June 10 and is expected to feature an AI announcement

Waiting for Apple Inc.'s big artificial-intelligence announcement? We seem to have just gotten a date for it.

The company plans to host its annual WWDC developer event beginning June 10, which is when Chief Executive Tim Cook will give his keynote address.

Apple (AAPL) has been teasing a coming AI announcement, and many have been expecting that it would come during WWDC. Greg Joswiak, the company's senior vice president of marketing, nodded to that effect in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. The event should be "Absolutely Incredible," he said.

Though Apple uses AI behind the scenes in features like its Siri voice assistant, the company hasn't been as public about its AI efforts as other technology players - to the detriment of its recently struggling stock. Perhaps sensing that, Cook broke a bit from Apple's "M.O." of not hyping up developments before they're ready when he told investors on the company's latest earnings call that Apple would reveal generative-AI "things" in the works soon.

Opinion: Will Apple create a better AI? Questions abound as Tim Cook hints at what's to come.

What does Apple have up its sleeve? Perhaps a generative-AI app store, Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes posited earlier this week.

"The world has changed again, requiring a new paradigm with generative AI in terms of apps and interfaces," he wrote in a note to clients. "We need a new kind of 'App Store' in a world where we type or speak securely into Generative AI applications that get stuff done."

His note followed reports that Apple was considering using AI engines from Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOG) (GOOGL) Google and Baidu Inc. (BIDU) on the next iPhone.

An Evercore ISI analyst said Apple has potential to run AI "on the edge," meaning on device, thanks to its tightly linked hardware and software ecosystems.

"The advantage of doing on the edge (iPhone) would be lower latency, better security and easier/cheaper accessibility," Evercore's Amit Daryanani in a note to clients earlier this month.

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-Emily Bary

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03-26-24 1413ET

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