When you think of companies leading the way in artificial intelligence, or AI, Apple is probably a company that wouldn’t be in the top three. It might not even be in the top five. But you’d perhaps be wrong to discount Apple and its AI chops, as CEO Tim Cook hinted in a recent earnings call with investors, analysts, and members of the press.

Cook was speaking following the release of the company’s fourth fiscal quarter of 2023’s accounts, but it wasn’t any of the (many) figures that made for the most interesting tidbits. Instead, it was Cook’s response to a question about how Apple would go about making money from the future of AI. According to Cook, Apple’s more interested in adding AI to existing features and if it can’t creating whole new ones instead.

‘Investing quite a bit’

In a world full ofChatGPTandMicrosoft CoPilot, Apple might appear to be behind the curve. But in a transcript of the call provided byMacRumorsit’s clear that it’s anything but. And there’s a good chance that you’re already using the fruit of Apple’s AI work without even knowing it.

“If you zoom out and look at what we’ve done with AI and machine learning and how we’ve used it, these are fundamental technology integral to every product we ship,” Cook reportedly said. “When we shippediOS 17, it included features like Personal Voice and Live Voicemail. AI is at the heart of these features.”

And he might have a point. Apple’s AI chops have allowed it to improve theiPhone 15andiPhone 15 Pro’sphotography capabilities thanks to the way it is used in the image pipeline. Photos are analysed and adjusted on the fly before users ever see what was snapped, and that’s all thanks to AI.

But as Cook notes, that isn’t all. New features that shipped just a few weeks ago wouldn’t be possible without Apple’s AI work, and there’s more to come. “In terms of generative AI, we obviously have work going on,” Cook told those on the call. “I’m not going to get into detail about it because we really don’t do that, but you’re able to bet we’re investing. We’re investing quite a bit.”

Cook went on to add that Apple will “do it responsibly,” something that might have been a thinly veiled dig at some of the companies Apple competes with.

Apple is of course already rumoured to be working on anAppleGPT of sorts, a Large Language Model that would go far beyond what the current Siri digital assistant is capable of.