Introduction: A Revolution in Bytes and Bits
If software is the blood of the digital world, then the platforms they’re built to run on are the beating heart that makes it work. The excitement for the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024 can give you a glimpse into that future. When the event opens with a keynote for ‘what’s next’ for Apple’s operating systems, it illustrates just how much new thinking goes into developing the future of the Apple digital ecosystem, from iOS, the platform used on iPhones and iPads, to macOS, which powers Apple’s computers, and more.
Apple’s reported move into in-house AI – named (somewhat clumsily) ‘Apple Intelligence’ – promises that the next generation of our tech interactions could be much smarter and seamless than ever before. This is not just about enhancing Siri or refining the predictive nature of your keyboard, but a more human interface – where every piece of hardware acts as an intelligent agent, learning your ways and tweaking your digital life for you in the most intimate way possible.
Consider a phone that reorganises its icon-filled home page atop your home screen after sampling your personal usage patterns over an extended period of time, or an Apple Watch that wakes your buttocks up at six o’clock each morning, informing you that you must do so and so to maximize any chance of getting that run in before engaging in other aspects of your daily routine. At first, this might sound like a science fiction scenario that has yet to become reality. But to the contrary, this genre of personalised intelligence is quite near.
Nevertheless, injecting it in every OS in the Apple universe from tvOS to visionOS – the question is, why would they do that?’ Indeed, Apple has its work cut out to announce these revolutionary changes, let alone to reassure people that they can be trusted to respect privacy in their use of AI.
With enthusiasm for AI tempered these days by greater focus on issues of bias and privacy than we have seen in the past, Apple’s approach seems to offer a more optimistic path forward – one that summons the spirit of ‘And also…’ at the same time that it honours its community.
Unlike its competitors, the impending software upgrades for Apple’s deeply integrated ecosystem will be an inescapable transition for its users. That forward push, and the labour it might entail, can feel terrifying. It’s also the next logical phase of Apple’s grand plan for our connected and intelligent digital world.
Thinking back over the history of operating systems can help us see clearly what a dramatic impact they have on how we use machines – from Windows 95 to iOS 18, we’ve always been looking ahead to the next revolution in the way we relate to ourselves and our technology.
WWDC 2024 is not simply about new features: it represents Apple’s goal to upend our digital lives WWDC 2024 is merely the beginning of the trip. It’s a journey that, though just beginning, is one that promises to inspire – and at times frustrate – us every step of the way. It’s an invitation to imagine our gadgets doing stuff we never thought possible … and, perhaps, to consider what we might do through them, too.
It’s a reason why the rollout of Apple’s new operating systems and the arrival of Apple Intelligence are such a turning point in tech history – they’re all about augmenting utility but are deeply personal in their implementation.
Apple Inc. isn’t just a technology company: it’s an innovator where, building on the foundations of the first personal computers, it continues to challenge the limits to technology, always keeping the user at the heart of its inventiveness.
So, sitting on the cusp of WWDC 2024, we are looking not just at new software but an entire new phase in the history of technology, one that will not just change how we live with our ‘second’ computers, but will transform and define the growing majority of what we mean when we talk about living digitally. We will still get there with the help of companies like Apple, who blaze this trail with a mixture of bravado and, well, its own brand of Apple-cation. But they are likely to be with us at the end.
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