Apple’s AI Rollout Will Likely Stretch Into Next Year

Apple’s artificial intelligence (AI) rollout will reportedly be a long, slow one.

As Bloomberg News reported Sunday (June 16), Apple Intelligence, which the tech giant announced last week, won’t become available for developers to test out until late in the summer.

That means it won’t be part of the first beta releases of Apple’s new operating system updates, and will arrive only as a preview this fall. It will only work on some devices and only in American English, and customers may have to sign up for a waitlist to try them, the report said.

Bloomberg noted that Apple’s strategy here — more or less offering a roadmap of what’s coming late this year or early next year without reflecting the features coming this fall — marks a shift for the tech giant.

In the past, Apple debuted features at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) for release in the fall, though sometimes had to delay features. Here, Apple is signaling that its latest technology won’t adhere to a strict timeline.

The report said this approach has a few benefits. For example, it makes staffing easier, as it can assign its engineers to certain features, release that technology when they’re finished, and then move them to other features. 

And by starting off with American English, Apple gets more time to train AI models on other languages, which the report said is a major undertaking.

Meanwhile, PYMNTS wrote last week that Apple’s new AI efforts could “transform how consumers interact with their devices and, more importantly, how they shop.”

If Apple gets its way, users’ iPhones will know their shopping preferences and predict their next purchase. Apple Intelligence will be able to analyze their browsing history, purchase patterns, and social media activity. 

Experts say the company is also looking to transform how businesses interact with customers. With the integration of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Apple devices will soon be able to take care of customer inquiries, process orders and even offer product recommendations.

“As consumers become accustomed to AI handling more tasks, their reliance on AI for daily activities and decision-making will likely increase. This could shift consumer expectations toward more automated and intuitive services,” Yi Fang, associate professor of Computer Science and Engineering and director of responsible AI in the School of Engineering at Santa Clara University, told PYMNTS.

For all PYMNTS AI coverage, subscribe to the daily AI Newsletter.