Apple Still Holds Potential to Shine in AI
This week, OpenAI announced that applications can now function directly within ChatGPT, allowing users to book trips, create playlists, and tweak designs all within a single application, thus eliminating the need to switch between several apps. Many are already hailing this app ecosystem as the future—imagining a scenario where ChatGPT makes Apple’s App Store obsolete.
Nonetheless, despite OpenAI’s app framework posing a potential threat, Apple’s efforts to overhaul Siri—albeit significantly delayed—could still prove advantageous.
Keep in mind that Apple already controls the hardware and operating system, boasting around 1.5 billion iPhone users worldwide, whereas ChatGPT has 800 million active users weekly. If Apple’s strategy is successful, it could not only maintain its hold on the app market but also innovate how apps are utilized in an AI-driven world.
Apple intends to eliminate the app icon while keeping the application itself intact. Its vision for AI-enhanced computing—first articulated at last year’s developer conference—aims for iPhone users to interact with an updated version of Siri, fundamentally changing how apps are accessed on mobile devices. (Think less tapping, more conversing.)
Are apps becoming obsolete, or will they endure?
This idea is in a state ripe for transformation.
Arranging small, tappable icons on your iPhone’s Home Screen to facilitate access to online content is an outdated approach to computing. Designed to resemble a simplified desktop, the role of apps is diminishing as a primary means for users to engage with their favorite online services.
Today’s consumers are just as likely to ask an AI assistant for guidance or information as they are to start a Google search or open a function-specific app like Yelp. They request their favorite songs via smart speakers or Bluetooth headphones, consult chatbots for business information, or look for movie reviews.
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The AI, a large language model trained on web-sourced data and other resources, understands user intent and produces a response.
This process is arguably simpler than navigating through Google’s search results for the right link. (Google recognized this over a decade ago by featuring direct answers on its search result pages.)
Furthermore, AI often makes it easier to find the right app on an increasingly cluttered iPhone, launch it, and navigate its specific interface to fulfill your task or answer your query.
However, ChatGPT’s app system, even as it enhances this interaction model, is limited to the ChatGPT experience. Users must interact through a chatbot-centric interface to use their apps, which may require some learning. To activate an app, the name must be mentioned first or referred to directly to access a button directing you to “use the app for the answer.” A correctly worded request is also necessary. (Errors here could leave users waiting on a loading screen, as initial Bloomberg tests suggest!)
We need to ask ourselves: is this the future of applications, or merely an interim solution as alternatives emerge? As new options develop—especially those integrated into your iPhone—will users stay loyal to ChatGPT, or might they reconsider Siri? Although the answer remains unclear, Apple should not be dismissed, even with Siri’s less-than-stellar reputation.
Siri might currently be a point of contention, but Apple’s comprehensive ecosystem brings substantial advantages. For one, consumers already have their preferred apps installed or can quickly find them in the App Store. Many have interacted with these apps for years, and muscle memory is significant!
At the same time, users face multiple obstacles when adopting ChatGPT’s app platform.
Initially, users must install the necessary app; subsequently, connect it to ChatGPT by parsing through a cautious permission screen. This includes authentification with the app through an existing username and password, entering a two-factor authentication code if needed.
Once this one-time setup is complete, the experience will likely be more seamless. For example, after using AI to generate a Spotify playlist, it can be easily accessed in the Spotify app with a simple tap.
However, this experience may not be significantly different from Apple’s approach if it successfully executes its plans. Apple asserts that users will interact with Siri via voice or text to manage their applications.
There are additional disadvantages to OpenAI’s app paradigm. Users can only work with one app at a time, unlike the benefit of being able to switch between apps—essential for price comparisons or deciding on accommodations like hotels versus Airbnbs.
Using apps within ChatGPT can also dilute the branding, presentation, and image users associate with their preferred applications. (For users frustrated with Spotify’s crowded interface, this may be seen as beneficial. However, others might disagree.) In certain instances, utilizing the mobile app may still be more straightforward than the ChatGPT version, given its limited flexibility.
Ultimately, convincing users to migrate to a different app platform could be difficult when the benefits of using apps within ChatGPT are not clearly defined—apart from the novelty factor.
Can Apple reinstate Siri’s reputation with AI improvements?
During its WWDC 2024 presentation—certainly not “demoware”—Apple demonstrated how applications would work within this new structure, leveraging AI features such as proofreading.
Most importantly, Apple informed developers that many of its AI functionalities could be utilized without significant additional effort—like a note-taking app that applies proofreading or rewriting skills. Moreover, developers who have already integrated SiriKit into their applications will benefit from enhanced capabilities, allowing users to perform actions directly within those apps. (SiriKit, a toolkit for enabling apps to work with Siri and Apple’s Shortcuts, has been available since iOS 10.)
These developers will experience immediate benefits when the new Siri version is launched.
Apple stated its initial concentration will be on categories like Notes, Media, Messaging, Payments, Restaurant Reservations, VoIP Calling, and Fitness.
Applications in these areas will allow users to execute actions through Siri. This practically means that Siri will have access to any menu item from an app. For instance, you can ask Siri to show your notes for a presentation in an app designed for that purpose, and it will respond appropriately.
The apps will also be capable of accessing any visible text on the screen through Apple’s standard text systems. This could lead to a more intuitive user experience without the need for precisely phrased commands. For example, if you are reminded to wish your grandfather a happy birthday, you could simply say “FaceTime him” to carry out that action.
Apple’s existing Intents framework will also receive enhancements to include Apple Intelligence, covering a wider range of apps, including Books, Browsers, Cameras, Document Readers, File Management, Journals, Mail, Photos, Presentations, Spreadsheets, Whiteboards, and Word Processors. Apple is crafting new “Intents” that are pre-defined, trained, and tested for developers’ use.
This implies you might be able to tell the photo-editing app Darkroom to apply a cinematic filter to an image through Siri. In addition, Siri will be able to suggest actions from any app, helping iPhone users discover what their applications offer and execute those tasks.
Developers are increasingly utilizing the App Intents framework introduced in iOS 16, as it provides expanded functionalities for integrating their app’s actions and content with platform features, including Spotlight, Siri, the iPhone’s Action button, widgets, controls, and visual search capabilities—not solely depending on Apple Intelligence.
Furthermore, in contrast to ChatGPT, Apple controls its own operating system on its unique hardware, paired with an App Store that serves as a discovery channel, along with supporting infrastructure for apps, developer resources, APIs, and frameworks—not merely the AI-driven interface for interacting with applications.
While Apple may need to source some AI technology from third parties for that latter function, it possesses the data necessary for personalizing app recommendations and, for privacy-conscious users, the tools to regulate how much information apps can collect. (We can’t help but ask where the “Do Not Track” feature is for ChatGPT’s app ecosystem?)
OpenAI’s model does not natively include all your apps at launch. It requires developer involvement and depends on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), a newer strategy for connecting AI assistants with other platforms. This explains why ChatGPT currently supports only selected applications like Booking.com, Expedia, Spotify, Figma, Coursera, Zillow, and Canva. While MCP adoption is increasing, any delays in its wider implementation could afford Apple time to catch up.
Moreover, reports indicate that Apple’s AI system is nearing its completion. Insider testing has purportedly enabled users to take actions within apps via Siri commands. Bloomberg revealed that this intelligent version of Siri integrates smoothly with numerous applications, including major services like Uber, AllTrails, Threads, Temu, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, and WhatsApp. Apple confirmed it remains on track for release next year, as reported to TechCrunch.
Apple has an iPhone, while OpenAI has Jony Ive
The iPhone’s role as an app ecosystem will be challenging to disrupt, even by an influential player like OpenAI.
OpenAI is aware of this, which is why it is investigating its own hardware options in partnership with Jony Ive, Apple’s former chief designer. They aim for their AI to integrate more naturally into users’ daily activities and behaviors, potentially requiring new hardware.
However, according to recent reports, the company has encountered challenges when trying to envision a computing model that surpasses the smartphone. At the same time, the public displays hesitance towards always-on AI devices, conflicting with established social norms and stirring privacy concerns.
The backlash against AI has affected numerous sectors, evident from the AI device maker Friend’s subway ads in NYC, negative sentiments towards Taylor Swift for her ties to AI, and threats to various consumer brands’ reputations. This uncertainty casts doubt on the prospects for an OpenAI hardware device.
Currently, this suggests that OpenAI’s application approach primarily revolves around utilizing its app to manage other applications.
If Apple successfully executes its Siri enhancements, such mediation may no longer be necessary.
