Full speed ahead! Apple's AI software development tools are nearing completion, and the iPhone 16 is expected to have even more AI features.

According to insiders, Apple is intensifying its efforts in artificial intelligence and is close to completing the development of a new software tool that is crucial for application developers. This is expected to intensify competition with Microsoft in the field of AI.

Media reports suggest that the company has been developing this tool as part of the next major version of its flagship programming software, Xcode, over the past year. Apple has now expanded testing of these features and plans to release them to third-party software developers earlier this year, thus accelerating development.

Insiders say that the plan is currently confidential, but the new system will be similar to Microsoft's GitHub Copilot, using AI to predict and complete code blocks, thereby simplifying the programming process for software development and potentially saving time and cost.

At the same time, Apple is also exploring the use of AI to generate code for testing applications. The company is pushing some engineers to try out these new AI features internally as part of its "dogfooding" efforts, which means using its own products to ensure they work properly before releasing them to external developers.

These initiatives are part of Apple's foray into the broader field of generative AI and large-scale language models. Currently, Apple is catching up with its tech peers in this emerging market, but has promised to discuss its AI plans later this year. This announcement may be made at the company's annual developer conference in June at the earliest.

Before this news was released, Apple's stock fell 1.5% in the final trading session of the US stock market, but almost recovered all losses after the news came out, closing at $183.86. After-hours, it continued to rebound by 0.3%. Meanwhile, Microsoft's stock fell by less than 1% to $406.56.

An Apple spokesperson declined to comment on the plans. Analysts believe that Apple's entry into AI is a pressing task. Apple's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, has already told his team to develop as many new AI features as possible for this year's operating system updates.

Federighi has also assigned his deputies to promote the use of AI features and has made his Senior Vice President, Sebastien Marineau-Mes, responsible for this work. According to insiders, Apple executives demonstrated the AI features to the board of directors late last year, with Marineau-Mes leading most of the presentations. Xcode's work is overseen by another deputy of Federighi, Andreas Wendker, a long-time Vice President of Software Engineering.

Insiders reveal that the next generation of iPhone and iPad software updates from Apple will include a range of new AI features. The company plans to promote this software, codenamed Crystal, as one of the most significant updates in the 16-year history of the iPhone. Apple also plans to introduce some AI features in the next version of macOS, codenamed Glow. However, Apple plans to take a gradual approach to develop AI, and some enhanced features may take several years to be released.

Apple is also exploring other new AI features, including automatic creation of Apple Music playlists and the ability to create slides in Keynote. Another feature under consideration is an update to the system search function Spotlight, where the new version of Spotlight will be able to switch between specific functions within apps and answer complex questions based on data trained from large language models. It will also have the ability to access apps more deeply to launch specific functions. In contrast, the current version of Spotlight is mainly limited to launching apps, basic web searches, and retrieving information such as weather and sports scores.

Apple CEO Tim Cook stated in the recent quarterly conference call that engineers continue to invest a significant amount of time and effort in AI initiatives.

Currently, the competition in AI among smartphone companies is intensifying. In January of this year, Samsung launched the new Galaxy S24 smartphone series, which incorporates Google AI features, which may to some extent be a preview of the features Apple is expected to release later this year with the iPhone 16.

In addition, Apple plans to continue improving its large language model to enhance services such as Siri and AppleCare support. The company is working to improve the accuracy of Siri in answering complex questions, and the customer service team is trying to speed up chat and phone support. Apple is also heavily investing in integrating AI into its health features.