WWDC 2024 had a big focus on Apple Intelligence, and while the company has been slow to revamp Siri and keep up with the current Chatbot craze, Apple's own "machine learning" has been in its products for years.
The technology has been leveraging the Neural Engine since 2017 on the iPhone, and has been part of the Mac since the Apple Silicon transition began, and Craig Federighi, Apple's VP of software engineering, pointed out as much at the company's Talk Show Live interview.
As seen in the video below, Federighi said "That’s been the funny bit now with the AI PC. It’s like someone discovered the idea of a neural engine this year."
Apple exec pokes fun at AI computers
"Nothing like what we’ve done, so obviously, in the phones for many years, and the first M1 Mac that we introduced in 2020 and every Mac we’ve introduced since," Federighi continued.
"I guess we missed the boat to name it an AI PC because we’ve been making great ones this whole time. But that’s not the point. They’re great Macs."
While some have suggested the unification of Apple Silicon across iPad and Mac could lead to a hybrid OS that runs across both, Federighi said that while he "loves" his iPad, he's not looking for them to become one device.
"When you use your iPad Pro right now, it’s the best iPad experience you can ever imagine, and that’s worth a lot to a lot of people."
"I mean, that is a great experience. And we want to keep making iPad the best iPad it can be. We are not trying to create a Windows 8 PC or whatever."
