Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference starts today. Here's what to expect

From an OpenAI partnership to the first "Intelliphones," many of Apple's updates will probably involve AI

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Apple store in Milan, Italy.
Apple store in Milan, Italy.
Photo: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto (Getty Images)
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Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference begins today, allowing the public to listen in as CEO Tim Cook presents the tech giant’s latest and greatest product updates in his southern drawl.

The company, which has fallen behind its Big Tech peers when it comes to developing generative artificial intelligence features, is expected to finally reveal more about its long-anticipated AI strategy. That reportedly includes AI updates for its iPhones and a partnership with OpenAI.

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Apple has been widely critiqued for its radio silence on the AI front, as rival after rival announces new generative artificial intelligence chatbots, chips, and other features. But Forrester principal analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee says that’s “entirely on brand” for the company. Apple wasn’t the first company to put mp3s on small devices (i.e. with its iPods) or the first to make smartphones or smartwatches. But it ultimately became the dominant company in the markets for those products. And luckily for Apple, its slow AI strategy also helped it avoid a major antitrust probe targeting its rival Microsoft as well as Nvidia and OpenAI last week.

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Worldwide Developers Conference, known as WWDC, will kick off with Apple’s keynote address on Monday at 1 p.m. ET. The keynote will livestream on YouTube as well as Apple’s website and TV app.

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Here’s what you need to know about the conference.

It’s a go for ‘IntelliPhones’

Last year, Apple’s WWDC was all about the company’s expensive, mixed-reality headset, Vision Pro, which launched to mixed reviews in February.

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This year’s announcements will likely have a much greater impact on the future of the company. Apple is expected to launch the first iteration of an AI-powered operating system for its iPhone. AI-powered iPhones, which Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan has coined “IntelliPhones,” could be the wave of the future, eventually dominating the telecommunications market.

Apple’s latest iPhone update, iOS 18, will debut at the WWDC on June 10. That’s expected to include an array of AI features, from summaries of content in Safari (similar to Google’s AI Overviews) to a significant upgrade to Siri. Apple is also expected to announce a partnership with OpenAI for its iPhone.

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Apple and OpenAI will buddy up

Apple has reportedly inked a deal with OpenAI that would allow iPhone users access to its AI chatbot, ChatGPT, according to Bloomberg. Neither Apple nor OpenAI has responded to Quartz’s requests for comment on the deal.

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The agreement would, conversely, give OpenAI access to potentially millions of Apple users, baking in the chatbot’s AI abilities with Apple’s applications and services. Apple is expected to make the AI feature an opt-in service.

Siri co-founder Dag Kittlaus told Bloomberg that the partnership would likely be a “short- to medium-term relationship” for the two companies rather than a long-term one. That leaves hope for other AI chatbot makers such as Google, a company that’s also reportedly discussing potential deals to put Gemini on Apple products.