To say Apple’s approach to AI has been highly anticipated is an understatement. The rest of the competition, be it Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Qualcomm, Intel, or Meta, has all been investing heavily in generative AI for the past year and a half. Microsoft is perhaps the most prominent example, as it went all-in on AI early on by closely partnering with OpenAI from the very beginning. However, Apple has not made any significant announcements to counter or champion ChatGPT, or perhaps even bypass it entirely. But we all knew that couldn’t last forever. Apple would eventually have to respond in some way, and the time has now come.

The announcement of the ChatGPT app for Mac was a significant first step, but it’s just the beginning. The latest report from Apple insider Mark Gurman provided a list of new AI features in the works for both iPhones and Macs, including photo retouching, voice memo transcription, suggested replies, improvements to Siri, and perhaps the most perplexing feature – auto-generated emojis. On the Mac-specific side, there may also be some AI enhancements built directly into Xcode, which could be a major boon for developers. I expect some improvements to first-party applications like Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and Notes to rival the capabilities of all the generative AI in Copilot Pro. But overall, I have a feeling Apple’s announcements may be more conservative than Microsoft’s all-in approach.

What makes this comparison particularly interesting is the supposed “faster and more reliable searches in Spotlight”. While that brief description doesn’t provide many details on how Spotlight might be transformed, as Apple’s search function, Spotlight could definitely benefit from an AI boost to enhance the user experience. The comparison with Microsoft’s new Recall feature is also highly intriguing. Recall is a reimagining of search in the AI era that allows users to search the entirety of their PC and past activities using natural language. Microsoft’s approach involves watching and recording everything users do, which raises serious privacy and security concerns. I find it hard to believe that Apple would dare violate user privacy in such a way, especially since its current Mac lineup doesn’t have the advanced AI processing capabilities of the Copilot+ NPUs or neural processing engines.

The driving force behind Copilot+ PCs lies in on-device processing through the laptop’s NPU. Microsoft requires 40 TOPS of NPU performance for devices to qualify as one of these PCs, which is even higher than the 38 TOPS of the Apple M4’s neural engine. Currently, this is only available on the iPad Pro, and it may not make its way to the MacBook Air until later this year or early 2025, as Apple updated those devices with the M3 earlier this year. Of course, Apple also has powerful CPUs and GPUs at its disposal. However, in the end, whatever AI capabilities Apple announces at WWDC will need to be supported by the available hardware, and for now, that’s just the M3. The M3’s neural engine can only achieve 18 TOPS, which is not a significant improvement over the Intel Core Ultra’s NPUs. Running persistent AI models in the background, such as what’s required for Recall, requires performance that won’t drain the battery life too quickly. If the processing will remain on-device, which I assume based on Apple’s strong privacy policies, the new AI features on the Macs are likely to be more modest. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing. As we’ve seen time and again, it’s entirely possible to move too fast with AI. We’ve seen a major fumble with Google’s AI Overviews. And we all know Microsoft has had its fair share of missteps in adopting this technology. Whether Recall falls into this category remains to be seen. So, while Apple might not be fully ready to embrace AI, that could potentially work in its favor.

We all know that Apple has never rushed into technology before it’s fully matured. Just look at how long it took for the Vision Pro to be released, for example. And in this case, Apple’s slow roll will allow it to take a more measured approach to AI, a technology that isn’t always known for being safe and predictable. So, while we don’t know exactly what Apple will announce at WWDC, I think we can speculate that it won’t be as ambitious or controversial as what Microsoft has cooked up. I wouldn’t be surprised if we come away from WWDC thinking that the new features in Copilot+ are more risky and potentially exciting, while the AI capabilities on a Mac might feel more refined. We’ll have to wait until June 6 to find out for sure.