Apple reportedly held a rare companywide meeting last week to cover its investment in artificial intelligence (AI).
At the meeting Friday (Aug. 1), CEO Tim Cook expressed a positive outlook about Apple’s AI future, The Information reported. Sources familiar with the meeting said Cook told workers that Apple has “exciting” plans for AI that he wasn’t able to discuss.
As the report notes, Apple has been struggling to win over customers and investors with AI features such as the latest iteration of Siri.
Asked about Siri during the meeting, another source told The Information, Apple’s SVP of Software Engineering acknowledged it’s a topic he gets the most questions about these days. According to the report, this was Apple’s first all-hands meeting in several years.
During an earnings call last week, Cook said Apple is making “good progress” on integrating more AI capabilities in Siri, which are set to arrive next year.
The goal is to create a “more personalized” Siri and for AI features in iOS to be “deeply personal, private and seamlessly integrated,” Cook said. Features like live translation and “workout buddies” are on their way.
“We are significantly growing our investments in AI,” Cook said, just as the tech giant did in its fiscal second quarter and will likely also do so in the fourth.
As PYMNTS wrote, those investments could include acquisitions, with Cook saying Apple was “very open to M&A that accelerates our roadmap.”
This summer has seen reports that Apple was interested in acquiring Perplexity AI, an AI-powered search engine that also offers shopping and payments services. Cook would only say that Apple, after acquiring mostly smaller firms this year, was not opposed to purchasing bigger companies.
“We’re putting all of our energy behind it,” the CEO said, adding that Apple is “reallocating a fair number of people” to focus on building AI features.
Writing about Apple’s AI troubles last month, PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster argued that Perplexity would be wise to turn down an offer from Apple, should one arrive.
“Perplexity hit an $18B valuation in less than two years’ time,” she wrote. “It’s created a native commerce capability that is the baseline for agentic commerce connected to millions of merchants through firmly. It’s working with phone operators to install its Comet browser on phones. Sure, it could flame out. But given what it touches and could disrupt, it could also become a trillion-dollar company.”