Apple Holds -WWDC for AI? Employee Event

Last week, Apple held an exclusive event for employees called "WWDC for AI" that focused on all things artificial intelligence. The gathering took place in the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple's headquarters.

This is the first live, in-person product event the Cupertino company has held since the pandemic and it will be streamed for employees unable to attend. This could indicate a return to traditional media events for future Apple product launches.

What We Learned

Recently, Apple held an employee event dubbed "WWDC for AI?" This conference-like gathering brought together Cupertino employees in person at the Steve Jobs Theater - for the first time since COVID-19 pandemic - as a chance for them to network and learn more about Apple's AI initiatives.

Bloomberg's Power On Newsletter reported that Apple held an exclusive in-person event this month for employees to discuss its efforts with artificial intelligence. But what did we learn from this encounter?

At Apple's employee event, executives and developers discussed their AI plans and ventures. But as Mark Gurman, a Bloomberg reporter who has been covering the tech giant since COVID-19 pandemic began, noted in his newsletter, Apple didn't preview anything that could be considered groundbreaking for consumers.

That being said, the event did provide some useful information. For instance, Apple announced that Siri will be receiving predictive guidance and recommendations via machine learning techniques, Siri's voice recognition abilities and the company's capacity to learn from users' behaviors and routines. This feature was enabled through recent advances in machine learning technology as well as some key strategic partnerships.

Apple also revealed its partnership with smart home device makers to make it simpler for them to incorporate Siri into their products. This means customers will be able to utilize voice-enabled devices to ask Siri questions or send messages directly.

These updates to Siri also demonstrate Apple's interest in AI is focused on providing small conveniences rather than a grand, unifying AI project. This stands in stark contrast to how many tech companies overhyped machine learning and neural networks when revealing their latest products - often leading to overpromising.

Apple appears to have prioritized bringing AR and VR technologies to the fore in 2022, rather than making any major announcements. This explains why they chose to debut their first mixed-reality headset at the WWDC developer conference in June instead of its previously planned consumer release.

What We Don’t Learned

At Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference, they unveiled iOS 16, a major upgrade with features like the Home app; Apple Pay Later (a buy now, pay later product); Macbook Pro with M2; and macOS Ventura for Macs. Craig Federighi also unveiled Core ML 2 during his keynote presentation - an improved machine learning tool which makes training models up to 30 percent faster, compresses them by up to 75 percent, and supports batch prediction.

However, we didn't learn much about Apple's future plans for AI at this event. As Gurman noted, the employee event focused more on discussing Apple's overall roadmap and strategy rather than individual announcements of AI-related tools or apps.

Apple recently unveiled Create ML, a GPU-accelerated machine learning tool for macOS that enables developers to construct and train natural language models and vision algorithms with an easy drag-and-drop interface. It was coded in Swift - Apple's open source programming language - and fully integrates with Xcode - Apple's integrated development environment for MacOS, iOS and tvOS platforms.

Apple or Google may not have created the most flexible AI framework, but it's a solid start. Many companies have already adopted it to train their AI systems, including Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook.

AI tools are revolutionizing apps and hardware, but there's always cause for concern about their potential in the real world. Particularly after an unsettling incident involving AI trained to interpret Rorschach-like ink blots that depicted grisly scenes such as people electrocuted, shot or pulled into dough machines.

In the meantime, Apple's first mixed reality headset - which we speculate may debut at WWDC next month - could put its mixed reality platform on a more secure footing for success. After all, they've been working on it for some time but never got an opportunity to shine.

Before then, why not check out our latest podcast episode Too Embarrassed to Ask with Nilay Patel, Kara Swisher and Lauren Goode? In it they answer listeners' questions about Apple's new hardware and software announcements at WWDC.

What We’re Doing Next

Later this month, Apple hosted an employee-only conference on AI at Steve Jobs Theater that was livestreamed for those unable to attend in person.

This wasn't the first time Apple held an AI-related event for its staff, but it was the first that took place in person. Previous events like WWDC 2022 were done remotely and Apple hadn't had one in person since before the COVID-19 pandemic started.

There's much discussion about the race for AI, particularly with Google's Bing search engine and Microsoft's chatbot-powered search. But will Apple be able to keep up?

Siri was at the forefront of introducing AI voice assistants to consumers, but over time it fell behind competitors and became a less than stellar product. Now that Google and Microsoft have both introduced various AI-based services, Apple needs to be more intentional with its AI strategy.

Apple could benefit from mixed reality, and the company is already working on its own AR headset. Reports indicate that Siri will soon enable users to code apps with voice commands - something which would require plenty of AI power.

Apple may need a year or more before it has the capacity to develop the kind of generative AI necessary for this technology, which is why it was essential to bring together their team at an AI conference.

Gurman reports that Apple's upcoming AI summit will be held largely in person, but also streamed for employees who cannot attend in person. He notes this was "essentially how Apple held media events before Covid." This could suggest Apple is returning to a traditional press event model for future events like WWDC or iPhone launch events.

The Future

Apple has been a guiding light in Silicon Valley for decades, setting trends that are widely emulated. Its innovative approach to developing new technologies has paid off with some of the most successful and elegantly designed computers, smartphones, and tablets available on the market today.

Apple's innovation process relies heavily on functional expertise. That is, those who are the best at a given subject - hardware, software, design - are granted decision rights within that domain.

This has two advantages: It increases the odds of success for those betting on innovative technologies, and it reduces time spent waiting to receive feedback and market forecasts.

But it also takes leaders who are deeply embedded in their organizations and can make rapid decisions about those details at all levels, including cross-functionally. They need to understand the complexities of their organization from three levels down so they can confidently make decisions at the top level and know when to delegate work or hand off responsibility.

At Apple, senior leaders must often get involved in debates and conversations about different aspects of their organizations rather than making a final decision in isolation. They need to be encouraging of others within their organization to disagree, push back, promote or reject ideas, then build upon them for the most beneficial solution for all.

Strong leadership skills are necessary not only to provide direction, but also to push people to be their best and accelerate progress. Additionally, it means being able to recognize when someone isn't performing up to expectations and taking necessary measures such as firing them if necessary.