Tim Cook on Generative AI: 'We Have Advantages That Will Differentiate Us'

During today's earnings call covering the second fiscal quarter of 2024, Apple CEO Tim Cook again spoke about Apple's work on generative AI. He said that Apple has "advantages" that will "differentiate" the company in the era of AI, and some "very exciting things" will be shared with customers in the near future.

We continue to feel very bullish about our opportunity in generative AI. We are making significant investments and we're looking forward to sharing some very exciting things with our customers soon.

We believe in the transformative power and promise of AI and we believe we have advantages that will differentiate us in this new era, including Apple's unique combination of seamless hardware, software and services integration, groundbreaking Apple silicon with our industry leading neural engines, and our unwavering focus on privacy, which underpins everything we create.

Rumors have suggested that Apple's first AI features are designed to run on-device rather than contacting a cloud service, which would make Apple's AI much more private and secure than an online AI option. Apple's plan to have generative AI available on-device will require significant CPU and GPU power, and Apple is planning to focus on AI with the upcoming M4 chip.

We could see the M4 chip as soon as next week in new iPad Pro models, with Bloomberg's Mark Gurman indicating last weekend that there is a chance Apple will unveil the chip in the ‌iPad Pro‌ models.