Apple CEO Tim Cook appears to be ditching a rhetorical strategy of playing coy with AI and is now joining his tech industry peers in building excitement for coming AI initiatives.
“We’ve got some things that we are incredibly excited about that we will be [showing] later this year,” Cook said during the company’s earnings call Thursday. “I think there is a huge opportunity for Apple with gen. AI and AI,” he later added, as Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley reported.
Where other tech giants have scrambled to get in on the AI buzz — releasing products, announcing new ventures, and simply reciting the words “AI” dozens of times on earnings calls — Cook has taken a more subtle approach.
In fact, during calls last year, Cook has explained that AI is already integrated into the Apple consumer experience, but instead of hyping new technologies, Apple instead focuses on the customer benefit. He has even said that Apple tends to unveil new technologies only when they are ready for users, in remarks that seemed gently critical of the recent excitement oozing from other tech execs.
Meanwhile, Big Tech siblings Microsoft (MSFT), Google (GOOG, GOOGL), Meta (META), and Amazon (AMZN) have played up their AI efforts, much to the delight of Wall Street.
Cook’s new tone will likely be a welcome message to market watchers who have been waiting for Apple to get in on the action surrounding generative AI.
As analysts at Needham wrote in a note on Friday, “We believe companies that use GenAI to cut costs and accelerate new product launches will replace those that don’t. Which is AAPL?”