Today is the last day of our AI for Brand Marketers Summit hosted by Paramount Global in NYC. It's going to be an awesome day; if you're in town, come on down. . The program begins at 9:30 a.m. ET.
In the news: It's still technically a rumor, but major news outlets are widely reporting that Apple and OpenAI are set to announce a major partnership to integrate ChatGPT into the iPhone’s operating system. The announcement is expected next week at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). The rumor is that this partnership will make ChatGPT a core feature on every iPhone, ending the long-reported battle between Google and OpenAI to power the central AI chatbot on the iPhone.
Several reports suggest Apple might use ChatGPT either to enhance Siri or as a standalone app, with AI features offered as an opt-in service for users. Apple is reportedly still in talks with Google about using its Gemini AI, but no deal has been reached.
This partnership could be as significant as Apple’s 2002 deal with Google, which made Google the default search engine on Apple products. That agreement helped solidify Google’s dominance in search, a monopoly that U.S. regulators are now challenging. The OpenAI partnership may not reach the same scale, but Apple's distribution is so vast that the impact on the AI landscape will be substantial.
Apple is also expected to introduce several in-house AI features at WWDC, including voice memo transcriptions and automatic replies. Additionally, the rumor mill is pretty sure that Apple is developing AI-powered robots, with one being a table-top robotic arm and another a mobile robot for chores. AirPods may also receive AI features and cameras in the future.
Many believe Apple is late to the AI game. They aren't. Apple has all the time it needs to get this right; iPhone users have no place else to go.
It will be interesting to see how Apple is thinking about the journey from task-based generative AI to agentic (goal-oriented) AI. Our iPhones store a remarkably large amount of our personal data (PII and PHI). It's easy to imagine a system that uses the local compute power of the iPhone, our personal data, and a stack of local (and private) AI models to do real work for users. Or… they could just add some genAI as a parlor trick. We'll see.
As always your thoughts and comments are both welcome and encouraged. Just reply to this email. -s
ABOUT SHELLY PALMER
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named he covers tech and business for , is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular . He's a , and the creator of the popular, free online course, . Follow or visit .
