Apple will be behind on AI — until it isn’t

Apple is building new AI photo editing tools to introduce with its next major software updates this fall, and these won’t be the only AI tools and services it wants to talk about at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in a few weeks’ time.

While it is correct to say Apple has had setbacks in AI development, it has also had successes. Was it ready for the generative AI (genAI) juggernaut? Probably not, nor has it successfully developed its own response in-house. Is Apple’s platform ready for AI? Indisputably, with the power and performance across all its hardware products to run AI on the edge, in the cloud, and as-a-service. Right now, Apple doesn’t offer the world’s best AI services, but does offer the world’s best platform on which to run them.

Given you can’t have one without the other, no matter how you slice and dice it, Apple has therefore seen partial success in AI. Now, it just needs to add the software and the services, about which we’ll find out much more in June.

What can we expect from the New Apple AI?

Apple’s AI photo editing updates will join the existing Clean Up tool and include tools that include Extend, Enhance, and Reframe:

Extend: Extends an image beyond the original frame using the source image as a guide, this works in a similar way to Adobe Photoshop’s Generative Expand.

Enhance: Scan the image and optimize it improved color, lighting, and other effects.

Reframe: A spatial feature that can shift the perspective of an image, so a photo of the side of someone’s head can become a portrait shot, thanks to AI.

Bloomberg tells us development of these new tools isn’t yet complete and warns they may be delayed, though that only makes it possible they will arrive later in the iOS 27 beta testing process. We know the company is working on additional tools.

We also know Apple will improve Siri and expand other Apple Intelligence features. To accomplish this, its engineers are working with Google Gemini to build dedicated large language models (LLMs) capable of running on the devices themselves, or via its own Private Cloud Compute. The company also intends to roll out a dedicated Siri app with a chat interface similar to that used by all the other genAI services, such as ChatGPT. 

The idea that Apple will turn Siri into an app implies plans to permit users to download alternative LLM-based apps to use. Apple likely recognizes it might need to provide that level of choice to avoid giving regulators yet another stick to slap it with. 

Big plans for AI services

Apple’s actions in AI show that its management believes AI services are likely to become commodities, which means they will continue to be highly reliant on the platforms where they run, which is good news for Apple’s hardware. Apple’s move to secure its processor development road map with more advanced 1.4nm and smaller chips over the coming years will only build up the company’s advantage. As Apple Senior Vice President Johny Srouji put it, the recently introduced M5 chip “ushers in the next big leap in AI performance for Apple silicon.” He means it — and when it comes to hardware, Apple knows to expect imitators.

The approach also suggests the company will offer AI services via an App Store for AI. You might purchase or subscribe to AI agents for specific tasks via a customer-focused App Store, for example. Offering these commodities via a dedicated online portal makes sense, while the company’s famed curation model means customers will be able to use those agents in relative confidence that their data isn’t being swiped in the process.

If I’m right, then the face of Apple’s so-called “AI failure” looks liked a combined hardware/software/services model in which customers have complete choice in which breeds of AI services they want to use, boosted by an App Store for useful AI services, Apple’s own Apple Intelligence tools supported by Google Gemini, all running happily on best-in-the-industry hardware with enough horsepower to handle most tasks natively.

Now, I may be an Appleholic, but I find it pretty difficult to see that connected AI ecosystem as much of a failure at all. I predict at WWDC 2026 we’re going to see the story change from one of losing the AI race to another fable of iconic AI recovery. That’s assuming, of course, the company manages to meet its own promises this time.

You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, and Mastodon.

Source:: Computer World