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(Bloomberg Opinion) — If you read Bloomberg Businessweek\u2019s\u00a0deep dive into Apple\u2019s blundering\u00a0work with\u00a0artificial intelligence, a consistent theme is the lack of any clear idea within the company as to what good AI on an Apple device should actually do. On Tuesday, with the company looking no closer to have come up with the answer internally, we learned it would soon open things up so others could have a go at figuring it out. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThe iPhone maker is working on a software development kit and related frameworks that will let outsiders build AI features based on the large language models that the company uses for Apple Intelligence,\u201d Bloomberg News\u2019 Mark Gurman\u00a0reported, citing people with knowledge of the company\u2019s planned announcements at its coming and critically important Worldwide Developers Conference on June 9. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
I say critically important because it\u2019s Apple\u2019s best chance to reset the negative energy around its AI work to date. At last year\u2019s event, executives announced a great sweep of features that, 12 months on,\u00a0still aren\u2019t available on devices \u2014 despite glitzy (and carefully worded) advertising campaigns suggesting they would be. What has launched, such as the error-prone news summaries,\u00a0has been\u00a0disappointing, and the\u00a0personal assistant Siri continues to embarrass\u00a0the Apple brand. Apple\u2019s decision to team up\u00a0with OpenAI\u00a0to help it deal with more complex AI tasks\u00a0was an acknowledgment of its position as a laggard. The news on Tuesday might be seen as another.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Then again, as I\u2019ve said before, Apple has the luxury of time to get things right with AI. The iPhone is still the dominant smartphone, and its user lock-in has not yet shown\u00a0any signs of being weakened by the appeal of AI features on competing devices. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
But that time isn\u2019t limitless, and opening up its foundational AI models for outsiders to build with\u00a0is an indication of how desperately Apple wants to solve its problems sooner rather than later. Gurman writes: <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The new approach would let developers integrate the underlying technology into specific features or across their full apps. To start, Apple will open up its smaller models that run on its devices, rather than the more powerful cloud-based AI models that require servers. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
It gives developers the chance to come up with better applications for Apple\u2019s AI than the company has been able to manage itself. Using Apple\u2019s on-device AI models gives developers a chance to layer AI into their apps without needing to send information to the cloud or expect users to put up with lag times as the AI \u201cthinks.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In many ways, it is a repeat of the strategy that made the iPhone a breakthrough device in the first place. Apple introduced\u00a0a software developers kit in time for the device\u2019s second generation\u00a0despite Steve Jobs not initially being sold on the idea. The iPhone\u2019s place in history would have surely been vastly different had he not been brought around.\u00a0According to Businessweek, there had been a similar reluctance to mount a full-throated effort to build AI, with senior Apple figures unconvinced as to its true utility \u2014 which, in fairness to them, is still an open question. Regardless,\u00a0opening up the challenge to third-party developers increases the likelihood that the iPhone will get a killer AI application before its competitors. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Now\u00a0the question is how close Apple will let developers get to the real nuts and bolts of its AI and the user data that it harnesses. Historically,\u00a0the company has been notoriously protective \u2014 some argue\u00a0anticompetitive \u2014 around how much access to give\u00a0third parties to its core functionality, preferring to keep some exclusively for its own products and services. It\u2019s why Apple has allowed only tap-to-pay cards in a user\u2019s\u00a0Apple Wallet\u00a0rather than a third-party bank app. It\u2019s also why the Apple Watch works better with iPhone than smartwatches from other brands. Apple says this is all in the name of privacy and a superior user experience.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Its stubbornness in the matter has been extraordinarily lucrative, allowing it\u00a0to levy a 30% tax on sales made through\u00a0apps downloaded on iOS devices. Over the years, this fee has been seen as unjustifiable and exploitative.\u00a0Developers have grown weary of Apple\u2019s values,\u00a0a problem for the company as it looks to that same developer community in the hope they can do for Apple\u2019s AI what they did for the iPhone. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Persuading them to build features with Apple AI, setting up what could be a\u00a0new decades-long generation of lock-in, will require a carefully and sincerely extended\u00a0olive branch. As I pleaded in a column not so long ago, perhaps Apple\u2019s best chance of succeeding at AI means adopting the spirit of that\u00a0famous chant from a onetime rival. Do I expect\u00a0Tim Cook to cross the WWDC stage shouting \u201cDevelopers! Developers! Developers!\u201d? No, I do not. But that doesn\u2019t mean he shouldn\u2019t. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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This column reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n