Top line
Apple shares fell in premarket trading on Tuesday after the company unveiled “Apple Intelligence” to much fanfare at its annual WWDC event, a hotly anticipated glimpse into the tech giant’s vision for artificial intelligence that confirmed a long-standing partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI and brought the wrath of Tesla billionaire Elon Musk.
Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, spoke during the annual Worldwide Developers Conference … [+]
Key facts
Shares of Apple were down 0.83% at $191.51 in pre-market trading on Tuesday.
The decline continues a downward trend from the previous day, when Apple shares fell nearly 2% to $193.12 in regular trading.
Wall Street’s tepid response comes after CEO Tim Cook unveiled the company’s long-awaited strategy to integrate generative AI into its products at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference 2024 (WWDC 2024).
The company, by any measure a Silicon Valley titan that often leads tech trends, has been widely seen as lagging behind rivals like Google and Microsoft in the race to develop and deploy generative AI tools like ChatGPT, and its shares have remained relatively flat this year flat. to the soaring value of some of its rivals, which are benefiting from the artificial intelligence boom.
The fall reversed some of Apple’s gains ahead of an event widely expected to finally announce its approach to AI, with shares up roughly 14% since the start of May on expectations.
In addition to announcing plans to bring artificial intelligence to all of its flagship devices, collectively called “Apple Intelligence,” which will integrate OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT chatbot into products, Apple also announced software updates for the iPhone allowing for greater customization and upgrades to mixed Vision Pro. – reality headset.
What to watch out for
Apple’s decision to partner with ChatGPT maker OpenAI to power products like the Siri voice assistant was a long-awaited development in Silicon Valley. Media reports and analyst speculation surrounding an impending deal to put ChatGPT on iPhones between Apple and OpenAI circulated weeks before the event. It’s a development that has clearly earned the ire of Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, who has called the partnership an “unacceptable breach of security” and vowed to ban Apple devices from his companies if Apple integrates OpenAI at the operating system level. In a series of fiery social media posts, Musk claimed that Apple has little idea of ​​what it’s doing when it comes to security and expressed concerns about the privacy of users’ information if ChatGPT is integrated. “They sell you down the river,” he said.
chief critic
Musk’s threat to ban Apple devices from his companies’ campuses also extends to visitors. The billionaire warned that those who visit Musk’s companies — which include social media platform X, Tesla, xAI, Neuralink, Boring Co. and SpaceX — will have to check their Apple products at the door if Apple goes ahead with its plans. “Visitors will need to check in their Apple devices at the door where they will be stored in a Faraday cage.”
Tangent
Musk recently raised $6 billion in a funding round for his artificial intelligence startup xAI, which reportedly brought its valuation to $24 billion. Musk, who was an original co-founder of OpenAI but has since clashed spectacularly with the firm and its management over its approach to the benefits and risks of AI, founded the company with the intention of competing with OpenAI.
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What we don’t know
Apple has not revealed when it will make the new features announced at WWDC 2024 available to consumers.
Further reading